Hiding in the Shadows
by Shinobi Saru Corp
Summary: Who am I? That's the thing. I don't know who I am. Someone told me I was James Buchannan Barnes. I never wanted to be named after a great leader. I never wanted to be a leader. I never wanted to be the Winter Soldier. Someone help me, please. We forgot about the other Hydra head up until now.
1. Chapter 1

**Hiding in the Shadows  
**

**Written by Tora**

A/N: I liked Bucky in Captain America. But watching Captain America 2… well… let's just say I cried. Good grief, I sound like a totally fan girl—whoa, wait, I am a fan girl. Anyway, I felt very sorry for Bucky. Bucky is probably my favourite villain, aside from Loki. Bucky's fighting style as the Winter Soldier was a.m.a.z.i.n.g.! The Winter Soldier was a very interesting character. While you felt sorry for Loki, you really felt a lot more sympathetic for Bucky. What was even more interesting was he wasn't really the main bad guy, yet he oozed magnetism. He barely said anything in the movie, but the way he moved, his fighting style, and his outfit was just intriguing. I actually liked Bucky before he was the Winter Soldier. You see, I had a parakeet named Bucky so the name Bucky has a place in my heart. Silly right?

Well watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Turn Turn Turn and the Winter Soldier, inspired me to write a fan fiction about Bucky. The hardest part about writing a serious fan fiction is… do you want to tie it into the actual storyline? Or do you want to do it you're daydream storyline? Darn. I hate that decision.

Hey, what's the point of fan fiction if you're not going to write down your daydreams into the story? What's the point of fan fiction if you're not going to write down what YOU think should happen? Gee whiz, I need to say over and over to myself that it's fine to write a serious fan fiction where it's about what I want to happen. I have a hard time writing serious fan fiction where it's all about what I want to happen. Usually I write it to tie into the actual story.

Anyway, if you haven't seen the Winter Soldier, please don't read this. But if you have, do enjoy this story and tell me what you think!

PS- it dawned upon me sometime in the movie that Bucky was Edward Elric! (Sorry, Full Metal Alchemist joke!)

* * *

**Chapter 1 Keeping low**

"That's just great," I growled

I stretched out my left arm and tried it over again.

Darn. I needed more light. Hiding in a smelly old barn in the middle of a Godforsaken land wasn't my first choice. But I needed to keep and stay low. What I needed more was protection. What if they came back for me? They weren't all on the Helicarrier. They could be anywhere.

Hydra. Hydra. Hydra.

Wasn't Hydra who I was fighting against? Wasn't I fighting for freedom?

I tucked that thought away in my head. I needed to concentrate. At the moment, my arm was giving me trouble. I don't know if it was starting to break, or getting a little rusty, or if it needed constant attention. I really don't know.

That outfit that he was wearing, I'm sure I've seen it before. Where did he get that white and red striped uniform?

This was all so confusing. The more I thought about it, the more I got confused. Yet, when I didn't think about it, that uniform kept popping up out of nowhere.

Everything seems so expensive now. A hamburger plus drink and fries cost so much more than they used to. A hamburger back then only cost fifteen cents.

Another thing that I don't like. The theater. I went there a couple times to find relaxation.

The first time I went to the movies, in several decades, I didn't know how it worked. There were so many showings and so many things to watch. There wasn't one movie at a certain showing. You could go in whenever you liked.

The movies I watched… they were coloured and almost real.

I was shocked at the sexual contents and immorality in some of the movies that I watched. Sometimes it was so embarrassing and shameful; I would leave the theater early. Where was their pride? That man cheating on his wife, that wife having a secret affair, their child disrespecting his parents… how people could find amusement in watching these things, I'll never know.

Other movies I saw were bright and colourful, and those movies were more enjoyable. But yet they gave me a head ache. The fast movements of something and the festive look of everything. I never knew a cartoon could be that amazingly realistic.

One movie caught my attention. It was scary. I felt like I had lived in a world like that. No freedom. That red armband with the symbol. Hatred. Hail Hitler. 'The Book Thief' constantly returned in my dreams.

Hail Hitler. Hail Hydra. They were disturbing close sounding.

The theater was no place for entertainment. I ended up not going anymore. Too expensive and they weren't worth the money.

The hardest part to staying alive was I had to earn money. Or steal it. I needed to feed myself and buy things to fix my arm with. But nothing seemed to fix my arm.

I needed help. And from someone who could understand this metal arm.

I had a small job. I joined some mowers who mowed people's lawns. Or mowed the park. It was a job that I could cover up. I could cover my face with a bandanna, sunglasses, gloves for my hands, a loose long sleeved t-shirt, jeans and a hat.

As for my hair, I didn't want anyone to cut it, since going into a barbershop would cause a commotion, so I simply tied it back into a ponytail and used scissors. It didn't look pretty, but it was better than longer hair.

I relaxed my arm and looked around.

It was hot and I could hear the cicada screaming outside.

What would happen if the owner of this barn came here to get something and found me?

That could be an interesting encounter.

That outfit he wore… why was it so joggling to see? It was as if when I first saw that outfit, a light bulb somewhere in my head turned on.

Once again, I took the screwdriver and began to try and fit my arm.

Lately, my arm was being a little slow and occasionally it would lock up for a few seconds. Actually, I don't really remember if I had made the arm or if someone else had made it for me. I feel like I'm having a hangover, where I can't remember anything from the night before.

If I could manage to get past the titanium plates and see the mechanic inside, then maybe I'd get a better idea what was wrong with my arm.

I finally tossed the screwdriver off to the side. Nothing seemed to work. In my spare time, all I did was fiddle with my arm. Hoping I could find a way to fix it.

I was about to stand up and leave the shack to get some food, but all the sudden the door to the barn opened.

Before I could hide or cover up my arm, three people entered into the room. I couldn't focus on them because the sun was making me squint.

"Please don't be startled," said a dry and melancholy voice. "I know this is very sudden, but if we don't hurry, they'll get here first."

The first thing that I did was pick up a gun and pointed it at the speaker. "Leave me alone," was all I could say.

One of them closed the door behind them. I flinched a little.

Now that I could see properly, my opponents were two men and a woman.

Two of them had guns pointing at me, and the speaker simply gave me a tired yet amused sort of smile.

"I'm Phil Coulson," he said calmly as if we were meeting at some cake and ice cream booth.

My lips were tightly pressed together.

He didn't seem to care that there was a gun aimed at his chest. Maybe I should make a more threatening move.

"Leave me alone," I repeated clearly and carefully.

"Listen, Barnes," He said. I filched at my own last name. "We're here for your protection. I know you're probably sick of that line."

I jutted my gun out a little bit, showing that I didn't want company at the moment.

Coulson calmly put his hands in the air, but he went on, "How 'bout these words to crunch on. Hail Hydra? They're back."

I didn't know what he was talking about.

"Hydra is gone," I said in a shaky voice. "I saw it on the news."

Hydra was another thing that was reoccurring in my nightmares.

"Barnes, do you remember Johann Shmidt, aka the Red Skull?" Coulson asked.

I thought about the name and rolled the words around in my mouth. "No…" I said slowly. I squinted hard and thought about the name.

Coulson glanced at the woman behind him and shrugged. "Looks like they wiped you out good. Anyway, you should know by now what a hydra is," Coulson said. "Lemme recap for you. In Greek myths Hercules fought a creature with several heads. If he cut off one head, two more would grow in its place. When Captain America stopped Hydra for the first time, Hydra did come back. We stopped it. But did it ever come to mind that there was a second Hydra base all along?"

"I don't get it," I said simply.

Coulson explained patiently, "I'm saying that we only stopped one Hydra head. We never considered that there was a second Hydra base or anything."

I thought about it. What if there was another Hydra base? What if they were looking for me at this moment?

"Then how come we've never heard of them before? Wouldn't those two Hydras be connected?" I asked. I was finally coming to understand what was going on.

Coulson nodded. "That's a good point. And normally we would have gotten information about the other base," Coulson agreed. "But you know that line 'Loose lips sink ships'?"

I blinked. "No?"

Coulson swore and shook his head disbelievingly. "I used a World War two quote and he doesn't get it…"

"What Coulson is trying to say," said the female. "Is that Shmidt made it so that if his Hydra head was stopped, that the two new ones would be as separate as possible. That way if one was stopped, the other one wouldn't be found."

The other man nodded and said, "We think the Hydra that we stopped has no clue of the other Hydra head."

"People think it's a saying. If they cut off one head, two more shall take its place. No one, not even the workers of Hydra, ever thought there would be another Hydra group. They just figured it meant if they cut off one head, it would still go on. They were wrong. _You cut off one head, two shall take its place_," Coulson said dryly. His amused smile had left by now.

I gripped my gun tighter. "But by going by that logic, the Hydra that's in hiding doesn't know anything about the Hydra you guys stopped."

"I don't think so. I think the Hydra now knows about the other Hydra group. Shmidt was smart in making two groups that didn't know about each other. Too many connections can be fatal. The less connections, the better. If the two Hydras had worked together, then we could squeeze out information about the other location. Shmidt made sure that wouldn't happen," Coulson spewed on.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why are you telling me all this? Don't you know you shouldn't trust me?" I said, trying to get this guy off my back.

Coulson shrugged. "There's not much to hide. S.H.I.E.L.D. is ruined and we can't even work together to build it up again. Everyone can't trust each other anymore."

"Do the other agents know about the other Hydra?" I asked. My curiosity got the better of me.

"No, they don't. I plan on not telling them. If I told them another Hydra head was around, they'd freak out and we'd never build S.H.I.E.L.D. up ever again," Coulson said. His voice sounded a little irritated.

"Don't you think keeping secrets from each other is another way of also ruining S.H.I.E.L.D.?" I questioned. I wondered when Coulson was going to blow up at me or stop answering questions all together.

But he was patient and really didn't have much to lose. "It does. But it keeps us together longer… sometimes," He flashed me a small smile.

Coulson looked around the shack and said, "Nice shed. How'd you get electricity? Never mind that." He went quiet and listened into his ear piece. Coulson looked at me and said, "You need to make a decision. And quick. They're on their way."

"Who's on the way? And what choice do I need to make?" I had been relaxing my gun, but now being threatened to make a choice, I raised up my gun at Coulson. I wasn't scared to shoot.

Coulson didn't look bothered but said a little more impatiently, "You're choice is to come with us until we can settle things out, or go with them."

"Who are them?" I pressured.

Coulson said simply. "Hydra. Hydra is after you again."

My mind began to spin. A lump grew in my throat. Hydra. I remembered them all too well. I was scared of them. They were responsible for my memory loss. I wondered if they were responsible for my metal arm. What did they want with me? My lip trembled ever so slightly as I remembered waking up and never remembering a single thing.

"Hydra," I whispered quietly. Supposedly I had died falling from a train. I glared bitterly down at the floor and muttered, "Why couldn't they just leave me dead?"

To my surprise, Coulson chortled a little. "I know how you feel, Barnes. The pain of death. Wanting to die, but you can't. Being seen as a weapon of war. Why the heck couldn't they just mind their own business and leave the dead alone. To say in a cliché way, I know your pain and felt it before," Coulson was so calm, as if talking about dying was an everyday thing.

"But your thoughts were never erased," I said lowering my gun a little, but not lowing my guard.

Coulson shrugged and offered, "I thought I went to Tahiti."

I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but the other man said, "Coulson, we really need to go. Fitz and Simmons said that they'll be here any moment."

Coulson nodded and said, "Well? Barnes, care to join us on our mother bus?"

I wanted to question what the heck was the mother bus, but I figured they were in too much of a rush to go to answer that silly question.

I really didn't like the idea of going with them, but I really really didn't like the idea of being with Hydra.

"There's someone else I'm hiding from," I commented.

Coulson shrugged and said, "Who else?"

I put my gun down and said, "The man that everyone calls Captain America. I'm confused about him and I don't want to meet him yet."

Coulson looked at me hard, and I wondered if he was going to lecture me about running way, but he figured that this wasn't the best time to lecture. "Okay. Let's go then."

I gave Coulson's friends hard looks. Then I looked at Coulson. "I don't know if I can trust you…" I said carefully.

Coulson resumed doing that sort of half smile. "You can't. But you really can't trust Hydra."

I stood up. I didn't have to 'stay' with them the whole entire time. In fact, I would probably just hitch a ride and then run away or something. But it never hurts to make people think you're on the same side as them.

Beside, S.H.I.E.L.D. had answers that I wanted.

"Lemme clean up a little," I said turning to the worktable.

Coulson looked at his watch. "You don't have time."

_Crap_! I mouthed angrily. My arm was beginning to freeze up a little.

"Your arm," Coulson noticed. "Your arm, we can fix that too."

I began to grow a little suspicious. Or a lot suspicious. First they wanted to protect me and now they were going to fix my arm. For free. Nothing's for free. I learned that the hard way.

"And how do I know you're not Hydra?" I said, trying to cross my arms a little.

Coulson shrugged. "I was accused of being Hydra once. But I'm not. But once again, you can't trust me. And, honestly, I can't really trust you. But that doesn't mean I'm going to let Hydra have you."

"What do you want from me? You're being all nice and whatever," I snapped angrily.

Coulson didn't miss a beat. "Simple. I want you to remember something."

Remember what? I was having one heck of a hard time remembering my own self, let alone something of importance.

Coulson saw my puzzled face. "I'll tell you more once we've gotten onto the mother bus," Coulson said patiently. He opened the door to the shack and walked out.

The other two followed him.

Being clumsy and one arm being slow, I tramped after them.

It was growing twilight and the wind started to howl a little.

"Coulson, tell me now, or the deal is off," I said stopping in my tracks.

Coulson turned to me and put on his aviators. He grimaced and said one simple word, "Tahiti."

"You need me to remember… Tahiti?"

"Precisely."


	2. Chapter 2

**Written by Tora**

* * *

**Chapter 2 A bus full of criminals**

I was thinking of a bus. Literally. Maybe Greyhound size or a double decker, but I wasn't expecting the 'bus' to be an airplane. What the heck, my life had gotten strange within the last months. S.H.I.E.L.D. is really Hydra and a 'bus' is really an airplane. Next thing I'll know, they'll call prison the Ice Box or something silly like that.

I was expecting to walk several miles to get to the 'bus', however it only took a couple steps. The plane was invisible. Right outside the shed. It turns out, as Coulson said, they had been parked here for a couple days. Watching me. That's not at all creepy or being a stalker.

We climbed aboard the plane.

"Nice car," I commented, looking at a bright red car. It was the only colourful car. The other cars were black.

Coulson smiled and said, "Thanks. But please don't touch Lola."

I shrugged and moved on.

The whole bottom of the airplane was dedicated to this science lab. Honestly, I didn't like the lab. I never was fond of strange chemicals and testing tubes.

We took a spiral staircase upwards and ended up in a sort of suite place. It was nicely furnished and had a bar.

"It took us forever to repair the bus. Fitz and Simmons had a blast adding new touches. You should have seen them fighting where the Jacuzzi tub would be," Coulson said. He looked around and then spoke into his ear piece. "We need a meeting up here."

I was still admiring the room, when three more people came up the spiral staircase. Two of them women and one guy.

Coulson nodded and said calmly, "Let me introduce everyone. Bucky, this is Fitz and Simmons." He indicated to a guy with short curly hair and a woman who was currently wearing protection goggles.

"Hullo," Fitz and Simmons mumbled quietly in unison.

"So, wait, this is like, _the_ Winter Soldier?" Asked the other girl who had come up. She had Asian features, yet she didn't look fully Asian.

Coulson glanced at the girl and then at me. "Yes, Smith, it is."

"I'm honored to me the Winter Soldier. Except, not really because he kind of killed a bunch—" She started.

I looked uncomfortably down at my feet.

"Okay, Smith, let's not get carried away," Coulson quickly chided. "This is Smith as well." Coulson pointed to the last woman.

She was this scary Asian looking woman who had come down from the bus to pay me a visit.

"Don't even think about calling us mother and daughter, Barnes," Smith said coldly.

Coulson went on, "And this is Agent Smith as well."

I looked at the beefy dude next to me.

I raised an eyebrow. "What the heck is with all the Smiths?"

Coulson went to the bar and poured himself a beer. "Wanna drink?" He offered. "Less connections, the better it is. If you knew their actual names, then it could cause trouble."

That didn't seem like a good reason to call everyone Smith. In fact, all it did was confused me. "How on earth am I supposed to address one of the Smiths?" I wondered aloud.

Coulson took a sip of his beer and said, "You look at them in the eye and call them Smith."

I rolled my eyes.

Good grief.

"Or if you want, call him Agent Serious-Face, the Pilot the Cavalry, and her the Hacker," Coulson chuckled. He glanced slyly at each of his target for nicknames.

The pilot was giving Coulson death stares. "Don't call me the Cavalry," She snapped.

Agent Smith said, "You really do know how to punch all of our buttons, Coulson."

"Sounds like I'm on a bus full of criminals or something," I said trying to make things light.

Coulson gave me a weird look. "You are," He smiled. "Smith would probably be put in jail for hacking the President's email address or something. I don't trust Smith much anymore, but that doesn't mean she's totally bad. And I'm getting funny vibes from Agent Smith."

I had to think hard and make the connections. Smith the hacker was the half Asian woman. Agent Smith was the beefy guy. And Smith was the pilot. Dang, this all got a little too complicated for me.

"Coulson, I really can't deal with three Smiths at once," I groaned. "Can you give me something a little more easy to work with?"

Coulson put down his beer and thought about it. "It would be best if they all had the same names," Coulson said reluctantly. "But I guess we can change the names around. That's Agent Chang and that's Agent Oliver. And that's Agent Smith."

Smith blinked and then moaned in annoyance, "Aw, c'mon, Phil! Why am I the only one whose name hasn't changed?"

Fitz blinked and said, "What the heck… wait, are you saying we changed everyone's code name? I had just gotten used to calling everyone Smith!"

Smith rolled her eyes and said, "Not even close, Fitz. You got everyone mixed up and confused."

Coulson smiled and said pleasantly, "Fitz and Simmons, would you please show our guest where he'll be staying?"

Fitz agreed and said, "C'mon, uh, Bucky." I could clearly tell Fitz was uncomfortable.

I followed Fitz and Simmons down the hall.

I could hear Oliver comment to Coulson, "Really? Oliver? You know I hate the name Oliver, Coulson."

"Oops, I'm sorry," Coulson apologized, except he didn't sound very sorry.

Simmons wiggled her finger at me, indicating that I could catch up.

We went up a flight of stairs and into another suite like room.

Then we went down a hall.

We came to this door that had a computer imbedded into the wood of the door. Fitz quickly typed in a few numbers and then opened it.

Inside was a little dark and the walls were made of dark metal pentagons. There was a nice bed with a nightstand. In the corner was a table and chair. But other than that, it was a little uncomfortable feeling. No escape from the pentagons.

"Normally we use this room for prisoners—" Fitz started, but Simmons broke in, "Fitz!" Simmons smiled at me and said quickly, "We're out of normal rooms. But it's quite cozy here! In our rooms it kinda packed and cramp! I tried getting Fitz to make new rooms, but he wouldn't listen."

Fitz got what Simmons was going after. "Yeah," He said in a rush. "We never really have prisoners down here anyway. Don't worry, we put Lady Sif in here too. And Smith stayed here for a while too."

They both smiled at me.

"That's right. Don't take it so hard," Simmons said soothingly.

"You're still wearing protection goggles," I commented.

Simmons blinked and then took them off hastily. She repeated, "Please don't take it so hard!" Fitz nodded vigorously.

I tried smiling back.

I was stationed at the prisoner's room. Great.

"H-have you ever had… someone who was bad but turned good… stay on your bus?" I hesitated.

Fitz and Simmons looked at each. Fitz nodded and Simmons said calmly, "Well, there was this one man who was good. But he made a bad choice. And people grew scared of him, and everyone didn't like him. But we saved him. And we took him on our bus. But then the clairvoyant got ahold of Mike Peterson…"

I sat down on the bet. It was surprisingly springy. "Clairvoyant?" I echoed in confusion.

Fitz scratched his curls and said awkwardly, "Well… I don't know how much I'm supposed to tell you about the clairvoyant. Coulson will tell you all in good time who the clairvoyant is. Darn, assuming we got the right clairvoyant."

There was a long awkward pause, then Simmons said, "Let's go up. I think Coulson wants to talk to you about Tahiti."

I jumped up with pathetic enthusiasm and followed my escorts.

"Why is Coulson obsessed with Tahiti?" I asked.

I clutched my arm, it was starting to freeze up a little.

We met Agent Oliver on our way back to the main room.

"Hey, uh, Barnes," Oliver said to me quietly. "You know, I don't really like the name Oliver. How about… you call me by a different code name?"

I cocked my head to one side a little and murmured, "What?"

"How about… you call me Ward… that's a better code name than Oliver is," Oliver said persuasively.

Simmons and Fitz looked at each other and burst out into hysterical laughter. Simmons pushed up her goggles and said, "Call him Ward!"

"That's a good one," Fitz chuckled.

I looked at Oliver's distraught face and then at the two giggling mad scientist. "You're surname is Ward, isn't it," I concluded simply.

Oliver, or I should call him Ward, did a facepalm and then glared at Fitz and Simmons. "Nice going, geeks," Ward snapped in annoyance.

I couldn't help but smile a little. "So, is Fitz and Simmons real surnames or fake surnames?"

Ward glanced at them and said in a vengeful tone, "Real."

I raised my eyebrow. "So how come Fitz and Simmons have their real name, while you, Chang, and Smith have fake names?"

Ward ran his fingers through his hair and groaned, "I have no clue why. Ask Coulson."

Fitz turned around and said, "Coulson likes doing weird things with no reason, that's what I think."

I looked at Fitz's chest. His badge said Agent Fitz.

"Well your badge says Fitz. So surely the badge doesn't lie," I said pointing at the badge.

Fitz looked down where I was pointing at. Fitz took the badge off and gave it a better look. "That is true," He mused, while twirling the badge between his fore and thumb finger.

He clipped it back onto his shirt and we resumed our walk.

"Were are we going?" I question. I realized that we weren't going back to the main room.

Simmons replied, "We're taking you to Coulson's room."

Fitz nodded and said seriously, "Yeah, Coulson hates talking about Tahiti in front of us. He's a bit stingy about it."

Simmons shoved Fitz a little and said, "Oh come on, we've been over this over and over. Coulson doesn't want the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. knowing about it. And it's a good thing he didn't tell before, because now half of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Hydra."

"I thought Hydra was gone?" I asked.

Simmons shrugged a little and said, "Well… Hydra isn't _really_ gone. I think Coulson just meant that we stopped Hydra from growing. S.H.I.E.L.D. now knows to be super careful. But there still is the other Hydra group."

All the sudden, I felt guilty for this whole thing. I felt guilty and responsible. I muttered a swear word under my breath and tightened my fists into balls. It would soon all be over… well hopefully.

We walked the rest of the way in silence. Ward had left us by now and gone to do something of more importance.

"I still can't believe Coulson wants everyone in code name. It's silly," I muttered.

Simmons chided, "I'm sure he has reasons. I'll even ask him for you. If that makes you feel better."

"No it doesn't," I said a little rudely. "I am fully capable of asking myself. But thanks."

"Okay, just go in yourself. Whatever you do, don't touch his stuff," Fitz guided me, as if I was a little boy going into his daddy's office for the first time.

I thought about his red car. He didn't like anything being touched. I wonder why, I thought absentmindedly, as I knocked on his door.

"Come in," Coulson's voice rang out.

Simmons nodded encouragingly, and Fitz gave me thumbs up. Boy, they sure were comfortable with being around a man who had murdered a bunch of people and was known to everyone's terror as the Winter Soldier. Maybe they were putting a brave face on. I hated people like that.

I opened Coulson's door and walked into the mini Smithsonian museum. There were model airplanes in bulletproof glass, old trophies, old newspaper articles in frames, old watches, guns, and many other interesting stuff.

I studied the fighter planes hanging from the ceiling.

"I see you're looking at the World War Two fighter aircraft. Remember anything?" Coulson asked, he too was gazing up at the planes.

All I could do was shake my head. But that wasn't all together true. I had been to the library and checked out many books on fighter planes, books mainly on World War Two fighter planes.

Then I realized that Smith and Chang were also in the room. I was too engaged in the room to realize there were other people in it.

"Why are they here?" I asked.

Coulson ripped his eyes off the planes. "Smith had a bit of history with Tahiti. As for Chang," Coulson gave Chang a bit of a cold stare. "As for Chang, she can't keep her nose out of other people's private biz, so I have to invite her or that she'll keep nosing."

I gave a sideways look at Chang, who curled her lip in return. Dang, why was she scaring me so much?

"So why are Chang and Smith the only ones with fake names?" I said, turning away from Chang.

Coulson laced his fingers together and said, "They have more connections with the Tahiti thing. Best to be safest with them."

"So basically less connections the better," I remembered.

Coulson nodded. "Exactly. So, let's get down to business. Tell me what you know about Tahiti. The place."

I thought about it. "Tahiti is one of the small tropical islands in the South Pacific Ocean," I said robotically.

Coulson nodded again and questioned, "So if Tahiti was in acronyms, what do you think it would stand for?"

How the heck was I supposed to know? "Are you going to tell me more about it, or are you simply going to use me for an answer machine for your own sake?" I asked impatiently.

Coulson smiled and said, "There isn't much to say about it. Someone made an extraterrestrial formula called GH325. It cures people almost instantly. I was injected with GH325 and so was Smith. We don't know the side effects or the risk for it. We don't even know where it came from. We have reason to believe that Hydra may not even know what it is."

I frowned a little. "So who's the clairvoyant?"

Coulson's eyebrows knitted together and he glanced at Chang and Smith. Chang pressed her lips together and nodded at Coulson.

"The person who we thought was the clairvoyant isn't really the clairvoyant. In fact, there really was no such thing as the clairvoyant. Followers of the clairvoyant were actually a little disappointed when they found out John Garrett was the man pretending to be the clairvoyant. John Garrett was with us all the way. He was with us when we found the cure, GH325, to save Smith's life. I think the person who we need to watch out most of all is Raina, the girl in the flower dress," Coulson said simply and quickly.

"How do you know all this?" I asked disbelievingly. All this was almost too much to wrap my brain around.

Coulson smiled his almost dry smile. "We have our sources. Not all of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Hydra," He mused smoothly.

"It's a pretty dangerous gamble," Smith told me.

Coulson replied coolly, "Life is a pretty dangerous gamble."

That was true, I couldn't really argue with that.

Coulson opened his mouth to speak, but he went quiet and listened into his ear piece.

A annoyed and stress look flashed on his face. Coulson took out pen and paper and scribbled something down on it and then showed us.

WATCH OUT. WARD IS LISTENING IN FROM THE COCKPIT

A furious look ran along Chang's face.

We all gave each other nervous and uncertain looks.

Coulson spoke casually through the ear piece, "So if we were to have a surprise attack on Raina, should we use a night night gun?"

Coulson looked directly at Chang.

Chang understood immediately and quietly slipped out of Coulson's office.

"You know, I think we should use guns on her," Smith said calmly.

"Interesting point. You've never shot anyone though," Coulson murmured. He rummaged around in his desk and drew out three guns. He laid them out on the desk.

Mechanically, Smith and I walked over to the guns and picked one up.

I thought up a good way to get us out. "So my arm, you promised you'd fix it."

Coulson replied, "All right. You're so impatient. Why don't you and Smith go down to Fitz and Simmons. I'll figure out a surprise attack."

"Okay, see ya, Phil," Smith said.

Coulson quietly stood up and took his gun.

Smith and I opened the door and walked out.

Coulson followed and right before he shut the door he hollered, "Shut the door!"

"Okay," I said.

Coulson shut the door and we began making our way to the cockpit.

Fitz jumped out of nowhere and said, "I handed May the night night gun."

"Good work, Fitz," Coulson said. "How long do you think he was listening in?"

Fitz replied quickly, "I don't know. I just quietly opened the door and realized Ward was listening in. Though he might be getting suspicious."

Coulson let out a dry laugh and said, "Let's hope May's keeping him busy. Fitz, go back down to Simmons and shut down all escapes."

"Some we can't shut down unless we're in the cockpit," Fitz said.

"Then shut down however many you can from the science room," Coulson commanded.

Fitz nodded and then quickly darted away.

Right before we went into the cockpit, Coulson said, "Ready?"

We nodded.

I didn't have much time to think, all I knew that it was weird being teamed up with S.H.I.E.L.D. and that they trusted me enough to hold a gun.

Coulson slammed open the door to the cockpit and yelled, "Put your hands in the air!"

Chang and Ward were wresting around. There were a couple bullet holes. One of Chang's eyes was swollen and Ward's nose was bleeding.

"May, get back!" Coulson barked angrily.

May? Who was May?

It all happened in a flash. Chang ducked and Coulson shot. Ward, who was about to lunge at Chang, halted and then fell to the floor.

* * *

We were watching from the science room.

Coulson was interrogating Ward.

We all watched in silence.

"So… why were you listening in?" Coulson asked simply.

Ward said, "It wasn't like that. Fitz caught me at the wrong time. I was simply—" Coulson threw a punch at Ward's face.

"Leave the sob story out, Ward. What were you doing in the cockpit?" Coulson said in a dangerously low voice.

Ward glared at Coulson. "I was gathering information," He said quietly.

Coulson's cold gaze didn't leave Ward. "For who?"

Ward didn't reply.

Coulson struck Ward again and again. Blood trickled down from his forehead and got into his eye.

"For who?" Coulson roared.

Simmons covered her mouth and said quietly, "I've never seen Coulson this mad…"

Ward's mouth was tight as a clam. Then he said quietly, "You're really angry."

Coulson was breathing hard. "Yes I'm angry. It hurts. Being lied to over and over. I can't trust anyone. I don't know why I'm working on this heckuva bus," Coulson snarled.

Ward continued to get under Coulson's skin. "And it really drives you crazy. To know that your closest friends are keeping secrets from you," Ward whispered under his breath.

"Darn him," Chang cursed. "I hope Coulson doesn't blow up completely."

Coulson bang his fist on the table and said quietly, "Let's see how you like the Fridge."

Coulson calmly walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Chang turned off the TV.

"See?" Whimpered Fitz. "That room isn't near as cool as your room, Bucky."

It wasn't long before Coulson opened the door to the room and came in.

Everyone was quiet.

"I'm sorry I lost my temper down there," Coulson apologized absentmindedly.

"Shall I drive the bus to the fridge?" Chang asked.

"Yes, please, May," Coulson sighed heavily.

"Who's May?" I asked.

Coulson rubbed his eyes and swore. "I'm not doing good with code names, am I, Bucky?" He let his hands drop to his side. "May is Chang's real last name."

I looked at Smith. "Then what's Smith's real name?"

Coulson smiled a little. "That, I'm not telling."

Things were getting complicated.

"I'm sorry," Coulson said to me. "It hasn't even been two hours and things are going south."

I didn't know what to say. I was use to things being a blur.

"Because of Hydra," Smith said soothingly. "Things haven't been quite as peaceful as they used to be."

"Fitz," Coulson said turning to Fitz.

Fitz looked up from a tablet he was looking at. "Yes?"

Coulson studied Fitz's face. That strange almost dry smile still lingered on his face. "What were you doing in the cockpit yourself?"

* * *

"Coulson, we're almost there," May said.

It had been a day since I was picked up by the mother bus.

There wasn't much to do other than eating and sleeping.

Coulson was constantly talking to the people who worked on the fridge.

Everyone else was doing their own thing and I felt a little left out. But I liked being left out, rather than being popular. I spent most my day reading books on World War Two. Coulson was nice enough to loan me a couple of his collector item books on World War Two.

The main problem didn't start until we got to the Fridge.

We had landed when the problem struck.

Agent Hand was murdered by Ward. The fridge, taken over by Hydra.

We had flown in invisible, but it wouldn't be long before Hydra figured out we were there.

"We need to leave," Simmons insisted.

Coulson murmured, "We can't."

"They've already know we're here," May said calmly. "If we leave, they'll just end up tracking us down."

"So what's the plan?" Smith asked.

Coulson was quiet.

Did he not have a plan?

"We need to contact the Hub from the fridge," Coulson said finally.

Fitz chimed in, "Can't we contact them from here?"

Coulson shook his head. "All the contacting we do here, will blow our cover even quicker. The internet here is hooked up to the Ghost Network."

"Can we hack the Ghost Network?" Smith asked curiously.

"What exactly _is_ the Ghost Network?" Simmons questioned.

Coulson explained quickly, "Smith, remember that bracelet I gave you? The bracelet shut down the programs and informed me that you tried hacking?"

Smith pointed to her wrist and grinned, "I still think the bracelet should have changed colours."

"The Ghost Network is basically like the security bracelet. It shuts down the computers and warn the people who tried hacking it. The only way to use it, is if you get the Ghost program," Coulson said.

"That should be simple," Smith pointed out. "All we need to do is get it."

"Well if you want a hole drill into your skull and a little microchip program in your brain, sure. Simple," Coulson said, he smiling.

Smith made a disgusted face and said, "On second thought, I'll pass."

"The way you use the Network, is you basically have to envision the internet. Your mind has to be super stretchy and you have to be pretty amazingly smart to use the Ghost program. If you can pretend you're using the internet in your mind, then it's as good as using the internet by computer," Coulson told us.

"That's amazing…" Fitz awed.

"It really is," Coulson agreed. "But now that I think about it, it really is going to be hard to contact the Hub…"

"We're back to the start," May said simply. "What do we do?"

"I have a feeling that the fridge might be keeping some GH325," Coulson mused.

"But you said we got the last GH325!" Simmons said in a shocked voice.

Coulson nodded and took out a gun. "I know. But Fury can hide things in places no one would ever dream of find them. Here's our plan…"

* * *

"This was our plan…" I said a little dryly.

"Yup," Simmons said calmly. "I quite like being left behind though."

I crossed my arms and snapped, "But I don't! I don't do well sitting here! Why did Coulson want me to stay behind?"

Simmons closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall. "Because Coulson doesn't want you getting hurt," She said calmly.

I gritted my teeth and banged my fist on a box.

Simmons and I were hiding in the storage room of the bus.

Crap.

"I still don't understand!" I growled angrily.

"Tough luck. I just hope Fitz will stay safe. He's had a hard time after he shot that Hydra agent… the way he holds the testing tubes. His hand really trembles. He won't help me with the guns anymore," Simmons mused quietly. "I knew if he shot someone, it would haunt him."

I plopped down to the floor across from Simmons. "You've never shot anyone?" I asked.

Simmons smiled and shook her head.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. "How long do you think it will take them?"

Simmons shrugged. "I don't know. I can't contact them at all. Coulson gave me strict orders that we should stay here," She said.

"I think I should go after them," I said standing up again.

"You can't. They locked the doors for safety."

"Then I'll break through."

Simmons rolled her eyes and said, "I won't let you."

All the sudden the light went out in the storage room. The storage room was already a little small, now it was dark and small. I hated claustrophobic spaces with no light.

"_Now_ can we go?" I asked impatiently.

"Nope," She replied in a sing-song voice.

I groaned. She was like a mother telling her son that he couldn't go out and get dirty.

I was about to yell, when she hissed, "Be quiet...! Do you hear that?"

I strained my ears, but I couldn't hear anything. "No?"

"Come here and put your ear against the wall," Simmons said in a bossy tone.

I groped my way to Simmons and then put my ear against the wall.

Gunfire. Banging around. Talking.

"Are they back?" I whispered.

Simmons was quiet then replied, "I don't think so. I think those are Hydra agents."

That made my mind up.

"I'm going after them," I said in a definite tone.

Something clawed at my arm and Simmons said in the most annoying voice ever, "Oh no you won't!"

I tried pushing Simmons away and getting up, but Simmons would let go. "Let go, brat!" I snarled viciously.

"I have orders from Coulson not to let you out of my sight!" Simmons said.

"_Oh really_," I hissed sardonically. That's what she was like. A bossy older sister who's only goal in life was to obey the most annoying rules. Some rules were meant to be broken. "And why's that?!"

Simmons was silent. The banging was growing closer. "Coulson never told you?!" She roared quietly in disbelief.

"Told me what?!" I replied angrily.

I wish people would stop keeping secrets behind my back. There was a reason why no one trusted anyone. There were too many secrets around here that should have been told long ago.

"He never told you why you're with us…?" Simmons said slowly.

I growled. Of course he didn't tell me.

Simmons repeated, "He never told you why you're with us…?"

The banging was coming closer.

"The gunfire is coming closer. If you want to live, follow me," I said trying to remain calm.

"I have orders to keep you away from Hydra. He told me everything and I'll die before you're captured by Hydra," Simmons boomed.

"Look, Simmons, that was a very nice speech and all, but I don't give a darn, and at the moment, our friends are in danger. So let me go or I'll leave no matter what," I said. I wanted to strangle this woman. "You are the most stubborn idiot I have ever met!"

I tried getting up, but Simmons pushed me down and said, "We're protecting you for a reason! You're injected with GH325! If Hydra gets you again, they'll do anything to extract the GH325 from you! That's why you can't go out!"

We both went quiet. I had a strong feeling she wasn't supposed to tell me that all.

Just then, the door opened up.

I blinked from the light. A slender silhouette loomed over us. "Hello," Said a quiet voice. It sounded like a soft voice being blown away in the wind. "It's an honor to meet you, James Buchannan Barnes. I'm Raina."


	3. Chapter 3

**Written by Tora**

* * *

**Chapter 3 Talk later, escape now**

"Raina," Whimpered Simmons.

I didn't know what to do. I had a gun, yes, but was I supposed to shoot women?

Raina turned on the light to the storage room. "There we go. Some light," She said.

She was wearing a red silk dress with black flowers all over it. "Hello, Jemma Simmons. You're in good hands. Unlike boys, I don't go around shooting people who aren't important to me," She said quietly.

Simmons pulled up a gun and said, "Stay away!"

Raina smiled softly and turned to me. "Aren't you curious, Bucky Barnes?"

I frowned hard. "What?" I asked.

"Aren't you curious about yourself? That man in the stripe suit, who everyone calls Captain America. Hitler. How can you not be curious? I bet it keeps you from sleeping some nights. The knowledge is so close, but you can't get it," Raina continued. She was almost purring.

I had to force myself to say, "No. I'm not curious."

The truth was I was dying of curiosity. Almost literally dying from it. It had kept me up many nights and tortured me all the time. But I was too scared for answers.

"Please stay back," Simmons said reproachfully.

"Simmons, why don't you let me shoot," I said slowly.

Simmons shook her head and said, "Don't worry. This is just a night night gun."

"I bet it's tough," Raina continued. "Being scared of your own self. Being scared if you're not completely back to normal. I know you want to be normal so badly. To have friends. What would you give to be normal again?"

"We are his friends," Simmons said bravely. But her voice was trembling a little. "We're the last standing agents, and we're after you. You'll have nowhere to hide. We're going to protect Barnes no matter what the cost. Coulson's words."

Raina didn't look bothered. "Some speech, sweetie," Raina turned to me again. "Barnes, how does it feel? The fact that Coulson wants you only because he doesn't want GH325 ruining the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.? That's the truth. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s not your friend. They're using you."

The next thing I realized was I was standing up and I had Raina against the wall, my hands tight around her neck. I didn't realize how much force I was putting on, until Raina started to choke a little.

Raina tried clawing at my arms. She choked out, "I know you're confused. You're not sure who your friend is. Tell me… don't you remember Coulson saying that you should never trust anyone?"

"How do you know so much about Coulson?" I barked angrily. I put on more force onto her neck.

"Clairvoyant," She whispered.

"Bucky, let go of Raina. If you kill her, we won't have the answers we need," Simmons said quietly. "Or I'll shoot you."

I let go of Raina and drew my own gun. This wasn't a 'night night' gun. It was a real gun. "What were you saying?" I said, pointing the gun at Simmons. "Answer me, Simmons, is that why Coulson wants me?"

Simmons's lip trembled.

"I said answer me, or this lady dies and then you won't have the answers you need," I said dangerously.

Simmons met my gaze and said in a hushed guilty tone, "Coulson wants you because he knows how you feel. He's trying to protect you and Smith."

I studied Simmons face. "You're not very good at lying," I decided.

I aimed my gun at Raina's head and shot.

Simmons jumped and screamed. As for Raina, sparks began to shoot from her head. "Self-destruct in three minutes," Raina said in a toneless voice.

"S-she's a robot?" Simmons said in awe. "Oh, heck, we need to leave now. Not only will this bus blow up, but she's got cameras for eyes. I bet the real Raina was watching from the other side."

Simmons and I both quickly made our exit out of the storage room.

A couple of guards lunged at us. I grabbed the man's head and twisted it to the side. The neck snapped and the man fell to the floor.

Simmons took out the other guard with the night night gun and then turned to the guy I had killed. She made a horrified face and said, "Did you have to break his neck?"

I tapped my gun with my finger and said, "I have to save as many bullets as possible."

Simmons scrunched up her face and said, "Okay whatever. C'mon. There's a special exit."

Simmons took me down several halls. We encountered several men. Same method. Break neck or bash skull against wall, save bullets.

"Bucky, why don't you get a better haircut the next time you're in town," Simmons commented. She never looked behind her, that way she didn't have to watch me kill the guards.

"I don't have time," I growled angrily. "Beside if I went, they'd freak out because I'm the Winter Soldier!"

Simmons nodded and commented, "That is true."

"What's our plan once we've gotten out of the bus?" I asked.

"I don't know. Now hurry up, we have maybe less than a minute and a half," Simmons commanded.

We upped our pace, and in no time, we got out into the outside.

The outside was in the middle of nowhere. Miles and miles of sea stretched from almost everywhere.

I muttered a swear word and said, "What now, Simmons?"

Simmons didn't say anything, but ran along the beach. She beckoned me to follow. "We have to hurry before they spot us. At the moment they're probably occupied with Coulson," She said quickly.

I kicked up sand as I followed her. "Aren't we leaving tracks?"

"Hiding tracks is not important at the moment. There's a small oasis in the middle of the forest. Darn, whose bright idea was to plan the prison in the middle of nowhere?!" Simmons muttered angrily.

Once we got into the forest we heard a loud and defining boom. I could see the plane go up in a ball of fire. We could feel the warm heat rush through the small forest. I blinked as the spoke stung my eyes.

Simmons whimpered, "Oh my… Coulson is not going to be happy…"

I took my eyes off the burning plane and said, "Okay let's go."

Simmons smiled a sad smile and said, "You keep going. I'm going after Coulson."

I blinked. I could believe what I heard. First I wanted to go after him, and older annoying sister wouldn't let me. Now older annoying sister wanted to go. Well I wasn't about to let her go! "You're not going back. They'll kill you," I said stubbornly.

Simmons shrugged and said, "Take this bracelet. We'll be able to contact you with it."

"What about the Ghost Network?!" I demanded angrily. I was getting frustrated and the whole encounter with the not-Raina just made everything worse.

Simmons chuckled. "Well now it's a little hard not to hide now that they know we're already here. Besides I can contact them now. And if I try and hack into the Ghost Network, it may cause some distractions," Simmons said simply.

I grabbed Simmons's wrist and began to drag her away from the open beach. "No you are coming with me," I barked.

If it was true about Coulson wanting me for himself, then I could keep Simmons in hostage until we worked out a deal.

"Sorry," She said. "I'm not coming with you. Sleep well."

I turned my head to look at Simmons. She was holding a…

Then everything went black.

* * *

DARNIT! I should have taken her night night gun away from her!

My head throbbed as if I had a hangover. My stomach felt like my intestines were removed.

I slowly sat up and tried to get a grip on my surroundings.

Simmons had dragged me into the shade of some bushes. At the moment, I had a leaf partly in my mouth. I took the leaf out and looked at the sky.

It had to be late afternoon. Maybe eighteen:thirty or eighteen:twenty. The sun was setting and the sky was a dark blue. The clouds were etched with a pale gold.

I took out my gun and realized that Simmons had given me an extra magazine. I gratefully pocketed the extra magazine and then made my way deeper into the small forest.

This might have been a nice trip at a tropical place, but at the moment, Hydra could be lurking anywhere. I needed to really keep my guard up.

Unfortunately, it was one of those times where my arm was being slow. Actually, my arm was slow all the time now. I wished I could have my arm checked on. Maybe fixed.

I thought about Coulson. Fitz, Smith, Simmons, and May. I had only stayed on the mother bus for about one and a half days, but I had been more or less safe there. There was the constant danger of being hijacked or someone betraying us. Which someone did. I thought about Agent Ward. How long had he been working with Hydra?

Just then my bracelet gave me a little shock. I yelled out a swear word as the shock traveled down my body. All the sudden I could hear Simmons's voice from a little speaker.

"Bucky? Are you awake?" She said through the speaker.

I whispered through the tiny microphone. "Heck yes. That thing could have given a sleeping cow a heart attack!"

Simmons gave a nervous chuckle and said, "Yeah well, it was meant to do that. I mean—not give you a heart attack, just wake you up. Sort of like an incoming call."

"I see," I said not very enthusiastically.

Simmons went on explaining the mechanism behind the bracelet. "It's better than a loud noise. We made it so that it couldn't hurt you too much, but whatever you were doing, it could get your attention."

"Is there a point to this call?" I interrupted.

Simmons hissed back, "We found more GH325. But it seems like some of the vials have already been taken."

"You mean…" I started slowly. I began to calculate what this all could mean. "Oh heck… you mean to say that Hydra already has some of this GH325?"

I could almost see Simmons nodding her head.

"Possibly," she replied.

"Then will they leave me alone?" I sounded a little self-centered at the moment, but I really did not want to go back to Hydra.

Simmons replied, "I don't know."

"Give me a report back," I said. I sat down a leaned against a coconut tree.

Simmons said quickly, "Ward has disappeared. We don't know where Coulson is. Fitz is trying to figure out an escape plan. May's guarding the main headquarters that we're in and Smith trying to find a way to contact the Hub."

I flicked away a little bug that was crawling on my arm. "When are you going to pick me up?" I asked.

Simmons hesitated for a fraction of a second and said, "I don't know that either. If we end up picking you up, we'll have to be in an enemy aircraft. The bus is ruined. The other crafts are S.H.I.E.L.D. made, but Smith is working on contacting the Hub."

I ran my fingers through my hair and closed my eyes. "Where should I go if you don't come for me?"

"Find an aircraft of your own and find your way out. That's what Fitz says you need to do. He also says to avoid the Hub. There is a chance they'll think you're Hydra. If we don't come and get you in twenty four hours, leave on your own," Simmons said carefully.

I was about to ask another question, but Simmons hung up on me. I rolled my eyes and was about to say something nasty about her, but gunfire stopped me for saying anything.

Before I could do anything, I felt pain in my arm. Blood seeped through my shirt. I clutched my arm and gritted my teeth. I was about to get up and try running away, when the bullet within me shocked my whole body.

The last thing I saw was a flower dress.

* * *

I was strapped to an operation bed.

My arm throbbed and my head ached terribly. My vision was blurry, but I could make out several people around me. One of them including Raina.

"Thank you," Raina said quietly.

My throat felt like sandpaper and no matter how much I swallowed, no moisture seemed to fix it. It hurt to swallow.

"What?" I managed to choke out.

Raina gave me a sweet sticky smile. She held up a small vial. "You gave me a gift. How sweet," She mused quietly. "This is the GH325 that was in you."

I felt so weak and tired. I could barely lift my head.

All I could make was a slight gurgling noise. I didn't even have the strength to talk properly.

"In return, I'll give you a gift back. And then once you're strong enough, we'll have a little chat," Raina said as if she were talking to a dog. "Bring it in."

Someone brought in a hospital iv. In the iv was a pale greenish liquid.

"Maybe we should talk before," Raina said. "Have you ever wondered what Tahiti was like? Maybe it wasn't as magical as you thought it was."

I closed my eyes and was silent. I had no memory of Tahiti.

"What if we sent you to a better place? How about… Hawaii? Much better than Tahiti. Sipping coconut milk or drinking from a margarita. That salted brim with the cool liquid running down your throat, and that little umbrella sticking out of the drink. Do you like that idea? Eating exotic juicy sweet fruits that you've never even heard of," Raina said dreamily.

I really couldn't tell the difference between Hawaii and Tahiti. But that cool liquid running down my parched and dry throat… a cool breeze. Cool water lapping around my feet.

"What about the succulent seafood?" Raina went on. "All kinds of fish to sample from. And if you didn't like the taste of one, simply slurp it down with a cool ice tea in your right hand. You'd be normal. You wouldn't have that left arm…"

I was having a hard time breathing. I felt like I had weights on me.

I felt a little jab in my right arm. I looked to the side to see the iv being imbedded into my pale flesh.

"What's in that?" I whispered.

"Juice from Hawaii," Raina whispered quietly in my ear. "Enjoy your stay."

All the sudden, I grew extremely dizzy. A sudden sharp pain ripped at my stomach. I wanted to arch my back and cry allowed, but there was a buckle at my stomach, holding me to the bed. The excruciating pain subsided.

All the sudden I was hallucinating.

I could smell the salt in the air and taste it on my lips. I felt refreshed and relaxed. A surge of energy ran through my veins. It burned a little, but it felt good at the same time.

I was in an army base now. It was early morning and men were walking around. Some were talking to each other, but most were going from place to place in a group. They were all wearing something that I had in one section of the Smithsonian. Army clothes.

I could still taste the salt on my lips, but I smelled oil and machinery.

I didn't know what time it was, but all the sudden sirens blew. Men ran around like an ant mountain being disturbed. Men ran out of the buildings, some looking as if they had just woken up. They looked groggy, but they slipped on shirts and boots on their way out of the buildings.

There was a kind of tension that I knew all too well.

Fear of the unknown.

Then it happened.

I heard airplanes above me. Bombs were raining down. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. The bombs hit the ground, and there was a defining explosion that pierced the silence. The shrieks of men and sirens mingled with the explosion hurt my ears.

Hawaii. Air raid. Confusion.

It finally dawned upon me.

Pearl Harbor. December, 7 1941.

The toxic flames licked the skin of the men. Their screams. It was a last desperate stand. Men who were already on fire were trying to shooting at the airplanes above.

I closed my eyes and opened them. I found that I was in another place.

It was all coming back to me. Not only in the stories I read, but I felt like I was living in it. Flashes of my training came back to me. I was drafted in the army at age seventeen. It's strange how things work. My actual age is eighty nine, but I'm only twenty one.

I had no idea what things laid before me. None of the young boys were prepared for what laid ahead of them.

I was in water up to my knees, walking forward without any control of my legs. What were we doing? Where were we? What happened next was pure hell.

Gunfire from somewhere on the beach. Land bombs. Men after men dropped death.

There was so much blood. Several spots of the sea had a red tent from the loss of blood. Guts were spilling out of several wounds. There were some like me, who weren't ready for this all. For all they had trained for, they couldn't move. They just stood there in utter horror. The men who couldn't move didn't live long. They were shot down.

I had never made it to Normandy, France. But here I was now. Everything so real. It was like a movie. Except, I could feel the water lapping around my knees and the weight of the stuff I carried on my back. I could feel the warmth of the blood.

Yet they pressed on. I was amazed. They were willing to die for freedom of the world. If I had been on Normandy, on June 6, could I have pushed on? If I was in training, and I knew what lay ahead, could I have pushed on?

The stuff that ran in my blood veins burned.

I looked around me. Those who had been shot who were still alive were struggling in the water, trying to keep from drowning. They too didn't last long.

I heard a shout and realized that there was a man at my feet. His head was bashed and rib threatened to poke through his skin. He was screaming in agony. He seemed like he was trying to say something. I finally got what he was trying to get me to do. Shoot him. End his life from pain.

That's when the chemicals that were running through my veins started to burn white hot.

I tried to double over, but I found that I couldn't. I could only arch my back a little.

My eyes snapped open and I found myself staring at Raina.

Raina's eyes were huge, as if she hadn't realized it would happen like this.

I was still writhing in pain.

"Shut it down," Raina commanded.

"Ma'am, we need to wing Barnes slowly off the drug," someone said from behind me.

I wanted to scream aloud and hide, but I couldn't.

"Shut it down, now," Raina barked.

All the sudden, the pain stopped. I felt tired and hungry. My body still had a tingling sensation. Even though the pain in my blood veins stopped a little, my stomach felt like it was cut opened.

"What's wrong?" Raina asked soothingly. "What did you see?"

I could feel tears running down my face. I couldn't believe I was crying. But the pain hurt. The images and the screams scared me. I was trembling all over. I knew if I had been sitting up, I would have thrown up.

"Help," I croaked. "T-they were everywhere. So much blood…"

"What did you see when you went to Hawaii?" Raina asked.

"War," I whimpered. "Pearl Harbor in flames."

Raina blinked and said in awe, "It worked…"

She didn't seem interested in what I saw. She was more excited that it worked. What was this thing?

Raina laid a hold clammy hand on my arm and said, "Let's see what you'll remember when I send you to Brooklyn?

I blinked hard, trying to grasp what she was talking about. "What?"

Raina put the iv once more into my arm.

She save me a devilishly smile. "Enjoy."

That same dizzying sensation struck me again. That stinging feel in my blood veins. Everything whirled around me. To avoid nauseas, I closed my eyes tight, trying to get the moving images out of my brain.

An image flashed in my mind. Then the image began to move on its own. Like a movie, I could hear voices and sound effects.

There were two boys. Maybe of the age eight or a little older.

One of the two was a small blonde kid, who looked thin and sickly. The other boy had a crop of untidy brown hair and was bigger than the blonde boy.

The two of them seemed to be at a party of some sort. There was lively music going on and there was chattering people. It seemed to be a warm summer night, for the grass was lush looking and the outfits that people wore were light and summer looking.

"I've never been to a Fourth of July party," the brown haired boy said.

"Really? I've been to a few," the blonde boy said.

"My parent's died before we could ever go to a party," the brown headed boy said absentmindedly.

The blonde headed boy made a sad face and said, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"How old are you?" The brown haired boy asked, looking curiously at the blonde boy, eager to change the subject.

"Nine," the blonde boy beamed.

The brunette gaped and said in a shocking voice, "I'm only eight!" He couldn't believe this nine year old was smaller than him.

I couldn't help by smile at the brown haired boy's look.

The blonde boy laughed and said, "I've been sick all my life. I haven't been able to grow properly." The blonde boy didn't seem to mind being small.

"Don't you want to go talk to kids your age?" The brunette asked.

The blonde boy shook his head. He ran his fingers through his hair and said, "I don't get along with boys my age. And most of the girls avoid me. Besides, I'm only a year older than you. What do you think of the stock markets?"

The brown haired pondered it, "Um…"

It seemed to dawn upon the blonde boy that the question was a little too high to ask an eight year old. "Right, sorry. Do you like comics?"

The brunette shook his head. "I never really grew up with comics. I like reading about astronomy. Newton's Laws are quite interesting," the brown headed boy said. He was trying to sound all grown up and important like.

The other boy didn't seem to mind the brown headed boy's attitude. "You really are quite smart! Do you read many books on astronomy?"

The brown haired boy nodded his head vigorously. "My dad used to have a bunch of astronomy books. With lots of colourful picture. I brought a book with me. I like to bring a book with me just in case. Would you like to see it? It's one of the ones with colourful pictures."

The blonde haired boy beamed and said, "I would love to see it. I never learned much on astronomy."

The boys began to walk away.

"What did you say your name was?" The blonde boy asked.

I listened closely.

"James Barnes. I was named after James Buchannan. I'm thinking about going by Bucky though," The brown haired boy said simply.

I blinked. This conversation...

"Bucky. I like that," commented the blonde haired boy.

This vision was of my childhood?

"What's your name again?" James asked curiously.

"Not as nice as your name, James," laughed the blonde boy. "I'm just Steve. Steven Rogers."

* * *

My vision changed again.

I finally understood how this worked. I was in my past. My subconscious was bringing bits of memory back to me. How did that work?

I was looking at myself, maybe at the age of sixteen or seventeen. My head was resting on the table. Next to me was a letter.

The kitchen was a little shabby and there were dishes piled in the sink. It was a kitchen of a young bachelor.

Someone knocked on the door.

I, or James, got up and walked to the door. His face was distressed and his eyebrows were knitted together. He opened the door to see who it was.

That blonde haired boy was standing there. He was wearing comfy clothes with a baseball cap. He looked older, but only maybe a handful of inches taller.

"Come in, Steve," James said tonelessly.

Steve stepped in and the two of them made their way to the kitchen.

"Want anything to drink?" James asked, still in that toneless voice.

Steve shook his head. "Did you read the news or did you…?"

They both sat down at the table.

James nodded his head. He almost looked like he was going to cry. "I don't want to go…" James finally said quietly. "I don't want to be taught to be violent. My dad died from war."

Steve awkwardly patted James on the back. "Look, Bucks, I know you wanted to go to Harvard and get that astronomy degree... but there's a war outside. People are suffering more than us," Steve said soothingly.

James blinked back tears and said, "I just got the scholarship to University yesterday."

"Bucks, do you realize I would kill to join the army? Serving for my country!" Steve said in a dream like voice.

James shrugged and said, "I don't know… I liked it all before the war."

"Doesn't it kindle anger inside of you? To think of those Japanese soldiers bombing Pearl Harbor?" Steve asked.

James shrugged again, lost in thought. "I-I really don't know," James mumbled.

"Being a soldier is quite popular with the ladies, Bucky," Steve said nudging James. He gave his friend a sly smile.

"I don't really want popularity. War changes men… I don't want to be a different man." James said slowly.

"Bucky, you can't ignore that lettered. You're drafted into the army. Do it for me, please. Do it for your country," Steve said in a quiet voice.

I used to love astronomy. I remembered. Harvard was the college of my dream.

I changed in a different man after a year in the army. I was taught to be tough and live off six hours asleep a week. Before the army I was an introverted man, who had no interest in the war. I was completely different from all the boys my age. That's why Steve and I had become such good friends. We were both quiet and we weren't Alpha males, we let the other boys dominate the group. But in the army, I was surrounded by extroverted aggressive men. I found ways to get along with people who completely different, to be outgoing and ask women out, and best of all, to realize how great my friendship with Steve was.

I opened my eyes. It was like I was asleep and I had to wake up on a certain time.

Once again, Raina was standing over me.

"Well?" Raina asked.

I understood what Raina was doing. She was worming information out of me. She wanted to know about my past.

I kept my mouth shut.

She waited patiently.

"Why do you want to know about my past?" I finally barked in annoyance. Her large brown eyes were disturbing.

"Simple," she sighed. "You have lived for over seventy years, and I want to know what happened in your seventy years of life."

"I'm only twenty one," I croaked back.

Raina shrugged and said, "I know. My mistake let me rephrase that, I want to know what happened in your twenty one years of life. I already know what happened in the spaces between."

I closed my eyes. My head throbbed. The burning was killing me. I twisted my back and tried arching it.

"I don't know," I said almost in a whisper. "They wiped my mind." Beads of sweat trickled down my forehead. What was in that iv?

Raina smiled and said soothingly, "That's why I injected you with a juice mix with strychnine and ketamine."

My eyes widened in horror. "What?!" I choked. "Strychnine is poisonous!"

Raina nodded calmly She held up a little vial and said, "Strychnine is known for working fast, no antidote, and odorless and bitter tasting. It's a fine white powder that can be mistaken for sugar. Notice how you're not really in control over your body? When people are poisoned with it, they have control of their body and tend to arch their backs and have seizures. That burning sensation you had, every time I put the needle in your arm, was the strychnine. The hallucination was from the ketamine."

I could feel the strychnine suffocating me. I couldn't keep my body still. My body was on fire. I could feel my blood pressure rising, yet my heart was slowing down, I gasped for air. I knew I was going to die.

"Help," I choked.

I was thrashing around so hard, the bonds on my wrist bit into my skin. My stomach cramped. Why hadn't I died yet? I should have died a while ago.

"Why am I not dead?" I screamed. The strychnine tore at my stomach. I looked at my arm. The needle was still in my arm, giving me more and more strychnine.

Raina stared down at me with cold eyes. "Because there is an antidote to strychnine. GH325."


	4. Chapter 4

**Written by Tora**

* * *

**Chapter 4 Strange day, Stranger Yet to Come**

"Give me some," I begged, in the midst of squirming around in agony. I never thought I'd be begging for something so hard.

"I have been giving it to you. You see, you're right; you would have died off long ago with the strychnine in you. But I was careful to give you a little GH325 now and then. Feel the pain?" Raina asked, but she didn't really seem to care how I felt.

Couldn't she tell I was in pain, darn it all? If someone's squirming in agony and is on the edge of death, gee you don't think they'd be in pain?

I didn't say anything, but my body continued to move on its own.

"You know that… oh, whatchamacallit… that serum they used for Steve?" Raina asked. She pulled up a chair and sat down it in, all lady like and prim looking. She blinked her huge brown eyes at me.

"Steve…" I continued to play dumb. Whatever happened, Raina mustn't get my past from me. I had no clue what would happen if she got my past. Would she turn it against me? I was still confused about my past, and I still didn't have all my memories restored.

A smile formed on her face. "Rogers. Steve Rogers. That Super Soldier Serum they used on him in World War Two," she recapped simply.

"I don't get it," Was all I said back. It was half true. My friend, Steve Rogers was injected with Super Soldier Serum? What is that?

I was still in tremendous pain, but I knew I wasn't going to die quite yet. GH325 was at the moment fighting off the toxic poison. You might say, don't rely on GH325 or you know nothing about GH325, it could betray you at any moment, but when you're on the verge of death and something is keeping you alive, you can't really push it away and say you're not welcome here.

"You know what I enjoy doing sometimes?" Raina said quietly, her eyes never leaving me. "I like to sit back and think about memories that make me happy. When I'm sad and need encouraging, but don't have anyone to encourage me, I turn to my encouraging memories. It's quite lovely to think of fond memories. Memories with friends, family, or just by yourself. Being with family on Thanksgiving. Or that memory when you're taking a walk with that special someone."

"I didn't have family. Or a girlfriend. Or a special friend," I winced. The pain my stomach was hurting as if someone was repeatedly landing blows on my stomach with a hammer.

Raina tipped her chair back a little and then rested it on its four feet. She did that several more times while pondering what I said.

Raina blinked and smiled pleasantly at me. She stood up and strode over to where I couldn't see her. Then she returned back to her seat. She was holding a thick folder. "Would you mind answering a few questions?"

I didn't reply.

Raina went on calmly. "Sometime I enjoy ask questions. You don't have to be truthful."

"What's the point of answering then?" I croaked back. I was exhausted, and I wasn't sure if I could answer straightly. I was still seeing strange images everywhere, and I swear there was a tiger roaming around this room a few seconds ago.

"So you said you didn't have family. Is that true? No family?" Raina asked, glancing down at the file.

I had a feeling that was my biography resting on her lap at the moment.

"Dead," I said simply, making sure to show no emotions.

"No girlfriend?"

"I might have had one at some point. She's probably dead," I commented in annoyance.

"Clara," Raina said simply.

"What?"

"That was your girlfriend's name," Raina said absentmindedly.

That was a little disturbing. Raina knew my old girlfriend, while I had no clue if I had one.

Raina went on with her questions. "No special friend?"

I made my mistake. I hesitated. "Mm—nope."

Raina nodded and then smacked the file close. She laced her fingers together and rested her hands on the file that was in her lap. "Want to know more about your friend?" Raina offered. "Don't you want to know who he is?"

"He's dead is what he is," I said bitterly.

Raina had been looking at her fingernails, but her eyes flicked upwards at me with sudden interest.

All the sudden a little shockwave traveled through my body. I lifted my head a little and looked at my wrist. Raina had left the contact bracelet on my wrist. Why would she—crap. She wanted to listen into my conversation.

Raina nodded at me. She took down the needle to the iv and stuck it into my arm. I was growing dizzy.

"B-Bucky?" Said a voice from the other line. It was Fitz.

"Yeah?" I said closing my eyes tight, trying to get the dizzy feeling out of my head.

"Where are you?" Fitz asked.

I thought hard. My head was throbbing. I knew the strychnine was overpowering the GH325. My veins began to burn again. "I-uh… don't really know."

"Ah, you're somewhere in the woods, right?" Fitz said smartly.

I could hear Fitz's voice just fine. When I had been in the woods, it was all static occasionally split by Simmons speaking. It dawned on me where I was. Better connections here. I must be somewhere in the Fridge. The gang must still be around the Fridge. I hoped that Fitz would realize I was close.

"Yeah, I think I'm in Hawaii," I said, trying to find a way to get the message across that I was currently on an operation bed, with a creepy witch watching me.

There was silence and then weird laughter. Fitz had a strange way of showing that he was stressed. "Really… um, well we're kinda out in the middle of nowhere," Fitz said seriously.

"You don't say…"

"Okay, so, Bucky, it's been like six hours since we stormed. We are currently locked up in the main room with no food or water. We'll manage on our own, but I think you need to leave. Stay away from the Hub for now. How about you go back to your nice shed?" Fitz suggested kindly.

It was already hard to understand Fitz's Scottish accent, but now every word he spoke was confusing. The strychnine was starting to do its work. My body began to move a little faster, binding in ways I never dreamed it would. Darn. I was going to be so sore.

"Bucky, are you alright?" Fitz finally said in the silence.

I groaned in reply. I wanted to let out a scream of pain, but I had to hold it in. Just then, I felt another sharp pain in my arm. I opened my eyes a bit to see Raina injecting a little GH325 into me.

"Fine," I whispered.

Silence.

Please let him realize there's no static.

"Put Simmons on the phone," I said all the suddenly. Fitz wasn't the one who talked to me earlier. He had no idea if there was supposed to be static or not.

"Simmons?" Fitz said a little startled. "She's right over there. I mean—why do you want to talk to Simmons?"

"Let me talk to Simmons. Please, Fitz," I pleaded. It was a matter of time before Raina either caught on or took away the bracelet. I was getting desperate.

"All right, all right," Fitz grumbled. I could hear scuffling and some voices.

The pain within me ceased a little. I was able to think clearly.

"Bucky?" Simmons said reproachfully. "Did you need something?"

"Give me a feedback," I said calmly. I went quiet hoping that Simmons would realize the silence.

Simmons replied back, "Coulson isn't with us yet. He's kind of on his own, I think. Like Fitz said, we're stuck here with no water and food. We're holding up surprisingly well however! And what about you?"

I waited a couple seconds before replying. "I'm fine."

"Oh that's a relief," Simmons went quiet. "B-Bucky… why's the connection better? Wasn't there a lot of static the last time we talked?"

I smiled. "Yes, I think there was."

Simmons replied in a careful and clear voice, "Bucky. Where _are_ you?"

"I don't know," I answered back. "It's pretty cold where I am."

I was hoping she'd connect the word 'cold' and 'Fridge' together.

Simmons gave a chuckle. "Bucky, you're in the middle of a tropical island! You can't seriously be cold!"

"Simmons," I finally choked out. "I'm in the Fridge."

By this point, I didn't give a darn if Raina killed me on the spot. I was hurting and already poisoned.

There was silence on the other side.

Then, "BUCKY, YOU IDIOT! I told you leave while you could and not come back for us! What part do you not understand about 'leave'?!"

"Sorry, but I can't leave my friends," I replied.

I didn't really trust S.H.I.E.L.D. but for now, they thought I was on their side.

"You idiot!" Simmons spewed on. "Do you realize how very angry I am?! We were stalling so you could get your bottom out of this place! What is your _problem_?!"

Raina stood up and walked over to me. She took my bracelet off and snapped it in two. She smiled at me. "_Would_ you like to leave?"

What the heck.

"Leave…" I echoed, raising an eyebrow.

"As in… walk away," Raina baby-talked to me.

Yes, I would love to get the heck out of here, but at the moment I was stuck to an operation bed… I had an idea. I didn't have this metal arm for nothing. Could I break my bonds? Or were there security cameras everywhere? Maybe I was being watched this whole time.

"Why…?" I said back. My suspicious were completely aroused, my guts telling me not to trust this witchy lady.

"You want to go back to you friends, right? Or are they even your friends? They are the only ones who know the answers," Raina pointed out. She turned her head away slightly, but she was sure to cock her head to the side watching me with those unusually big brown eyes.

What a creepy witch.

I said super slowly, "You'd _let_ me go… just like that?"

Raina nodded.

"Why the _heck_ would you let me go, _just like that_?" I questioned. I couldn't _imagine_ why she'd just _let_ me go! What kind of prison-keeper was she?!

Raina turned to me and took the needle. "You see, Barnes, I care for you. I want you to know the truth. About your friend. About what S.H.I.E.L.D. is hiding from you."

By this time, Raina had unbuckled my wrist straps. My plan was to find a way to kill her, but I realized that I didn't have the strength. My body had finally stopped moving on its own, but I still twitched here and there.

I was still so confused, first Raina captures me, then she found amusement in trying to get my memories back for her convenience, and then she wanted to release me.

"Guards, there will be guards everywhere if I try and escape," I said sourly. "Beside aren't you Hydra?"

I needed to make an escape plan and quick.

Raina was about to unbuckle the strap on my chest and stomach when she said, "Hydra? This isn't Hydra's base. We simply raided it. The Fridge is run by S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

My mind twisted, trying to grasp what she was saying. I thought the… "But isn't the Fridge taken over by Hydra?"

Raina raised an eyebrow ever so slightly and said, "I told you. We simply raided it and let loose prisoners. Taking the 0-8-4 weapon, the Berserker Staff, the Gravitonium, and of course, some GH325. We did _not_ take the Fridge over."

I blinked hard and said, "They said—they said that it was taken over by Hydra!"

Raina laughed a sing-song voice, "The people who are trying to get at your friends aren't Hydra! They're S.H.I.E.L.D agents! But they think your friends _are_ Hydra. That's why they're trying to get to them. And your friends think that the other agents are Hydra. Amusing, right?"

There was nothing 'amusing' about that. I blinked in disbelief. "You're turning S.H.I.E.L.D. agents against S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?"

Raina shrugged, "As a matter of fact, yes. My robot was the one that blew up your airplane, but the people banging around were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Hydra was gone long ago."

"What about Ward?" I lashed out.

Raina shrugged again. "I don't know where he is. I'm not in charge of knowing where he is."

She began to calmly unbuckle the strap on my stomach.

What the heck was I going to do once I was free?!

"What about the guards?" I barked angrily.

I don't know if all the stress was making me feel confused or the fact that I really had no clue what to do was making me crabby.

Raina was undoing the final strap when she said, "Figure it out yourself."

I was free. But when I sat up, I felt like I was being compressed slowly.

Raina seemed to see my pain and commented, "You still have strychnine within you. I don't know how long you'll be sick, if you don't get any more GH325 in you."

Lovely. I was slowly decaying.

I could barely move my metal arm, let alone my other arm.

All the sudden I realized I didn't have my shirt. "Where is my shirt?" I demanded.

Raina blinked and seemed to realize what I was asking for. She walked over to a desk and grabbed my shirt and tossed it over to me.

I hurriedly put it over me. It was a S.H.I.E.L.D. shirt that Ward had lent me. Comfy, stretchable, black, and it had a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the back. Looks like he wouldn't be getting it back.

Raina watched me slowly get off the operation bed. It was a slow process to stand up on my own and walk around a little. I inhaled deeply and hobbled to the door. Raina was still watching me. If I had a weapon with me, I would have shot her down on the spot.

It made me uneasy. Really uneasy. Just 'leaving' while Raina watched me. It was intimidating. I never thought a woman could scare me so, but this witch did.

"I care for you," Raina said. "I want you to know the truth. Find out who that special friend is. Maybe he isn't dead."

I finally made a run for it. I wanted to get her soft voice out of my head. Those brown but completely cold eyes.

I stumbled down halls, trying to figure out where I was. Without a map of some sort, I wouldn't be able to find… an image popped into my mind. I had seen this image before. I had been introduced to it at the library. It was… amazing. I could find all the research that I needed in one spot. With a click of the mouse I could learn everything I needed to know.

The internet.

And now, here I was, able to see it clearly. It was transparent, so I could see all around me just fine, but that image of the internet was right in front of me.

If only I could find a map… all the sudden, in the textbox, the words 'map' typed in. I looked at the word search. Several links to the word 'map' popped up.

Then it dawned on me.

Oh crap. Oh no.

I remember what Coulson had talked to us about. The Ghost Network.

I had a little microchip in my head.

I gritted my teeth and imagined the gruesome task of drilling a hole through my skull and then implanting a microchip inside.

I snapped out of it and realized that I needed to use this to my advantage.

I concentrated on the screen and pretended I typed in, _map of the Fridge_. Then I imaged that I clicked the search button.

It took a fraction of a second for it to load and come up with results. I quickly sifted through the results and chose one.

The map of the Fridge was in front of me.

My head was swirling with the strange internet in front of me. The strychnine made me vomit on the spot. I quickly turned the corner.

Where was everyone? Where were the guards? I hadn't met a single guard yet.

I studied the map. They weren't on this floor. Darn. They were at the very bottom.

I searched for an elevator. I finally found an elevator. Being in the elevator gave me time to catch my breath and think. It was excruciating labor to walk around quickly. I wanted to collapse to the floor, but I was afraid if I fell to the floor, then I'd never be able to get back up.

I wonder how come my head never throbbed too terribly. I would assume if I had surgery that I would be in great pain.

The elevator came to a stop and I exited it.

I walked down a couple more halls. I was nearly running, from fear of being caught by the guards.

Before I knew it, there were big doors in front of me. This is where my friends were locked up. I looked at the doors and around it. Why couldn't they get out?

I knocked on the door, which was a wee bit silly.

Of course they weren't going to reply.

How was I going to get this door open? I noticed to the side that there was a little computer. Who the heck used this computer when you had the Ghost Network?

I looked at it. The screen just had the internet on it. I touched it. Nothing.

If I still had it... I looked down at my belt to see if I had it. As a matter of fact, yes, I did still have it. It was a little gadget that could detect the password to get in. I clicked the button and aimed the gizmo at the computer. A red 3D version of the computer shone out and the words _HailRIIHydra_ shone in the textbox.

I didn't really pay much attention to what the password was; I was too busy trying to figure out how to enter in the buttons.

Duh.

I pretended that I was typing _HailRIIHydra_ into the translucent textbox and then I simply hit enter.

The computer on the wall coincided to the internet in my mind. The words _access accepted_ flashed in my mind and on the small computer.

There seemed to be a clicking noise coming from the door. Then a clunk sound. I knocked once more, hoping that they wouldn't shoot me.

I opened the door a tiny bit. This was where my friends were. Or where they said they were. The main room.

I opened the door wider and stepped in. There was no trace of anyone in here. I swore quietly to myself as I took another step in.

I was on the verge of throwing up again, when something hit my side and I fell to the floor.

* * *

"Oh, he's awake!" Said a woman's voice.

I was afraid it was Raina, but it wasn't.

My eyes were so blurry and my head throbbed. Not only did my blood veins burn, my stomach hurt ten times more now.

I groaned.

"Hold still, Bucky," said someone with a thick Scottish accent.

I blinked hard and said, "Fitz? Simmons?"

Fitz and Simmons both leaned over and stared down at me.

They both grinned impish grins and waved at me. "Hullo!" Simmons said cheerfully.

"You've been asleep for nearly eight hours. Asleep all the way back," Fitz commented.

"We're at the Hub," Simmons said quickly. "We made it back! There were absolutely no guards around!"

I slowly sat up. Someone took out all the guards?

"Oh, careful. We were fixing your arm for you," Fitz said, pointing at my arm.

I looked at my arm. They had taken off the metal plates of titanium.

"How were you able to get the titanium plates off?" I choked, marveling at the inside of my metal arm.

Simmons shook her head and said, "Actually it's not titanium."

"It's Vibranium," Fitz finished. "You know, the same stuff that Captain America's shield is made of."

"Captain… _who_?" I asked wincing.

Fitz nudged Simmons and snickered, "Captain Who. Doctor Who."

Simmons had a deadly serious expression on her face. She nudged Fitz back, who stopped snickering. Fitz said more seriously, "We don't have the answers for you. Sorry."

Simmons butted in, "Well we sort of do, but we're not sure if _we're_ supposed to tell you."

Fitz nodded. "What she said."

I looked down at my arm. They had taken off several of the Vibranium plates and had cleaned up the inside. I stared at the complicated design.

"Where is my shirt? And why do people keep taking it?" I snapped angrily.

Fitz and Simmons looked at each other. They both nodded and Simmons said, "Did you know that Ward had put on a tracker in your shirt? I guess he wanted to watch you carefully."

"Or that you had been pumped full with strychnine?" Fitz questioned.

I blink and remembered the strychnine. "Am I still pumped full of it?" I panicked.

Fitz waved his hands, trying to calm me down. "No! We took care of that! Before you started coming around, your body started twisting and moving on its own. It was scary. Finally Simmons took a blood sample. We found out that you had strychnine running in your veins."

I raised an eyebrow and marveled, "How the heck did you get it out?!"

Simmons smiled mischievously and twirled her pen in the air. "We have our sources," Simmons said mysteriously.

"Yeah, there in that vial over there," Fitz let loose, jerking his head to the left.

"_Fitz_!" Simmons snarled angrily.

I glanced over to the left. Several vials of blood were stored away. The sight of my blood made me queasy.

"How did you—how did you replace all that lost blood?!" I asked inquisitively.

Simmons glared at Fitz and said loudly, "We have our sources!"

Fitz ignored Simmons. "We have stocks of blood here."

Simmons put her hands on her hips and said, "Fitz, remember how we talked about not spoiling things? Must I go back to that one time at Christmas?"

Fitz rolled his eyes and pushed Simmons away. "No, you don't need to recap that time I put my big feet in my mouth about Coulson's gift," Fitz groaned.

"It was a designer's tie! A _designer's_ tie! It cost an arm and a leg!" Simmons flailed her arms around enthusiastically.

"Yeah yeah! You don't need to go gabbing on and reminding me, Jemma!" Fitz snapped covering up his ears.

Simmons turned to me for sympathy. "It was a designer's tie. Of the _TARDIS_!"

"What…?" was all I could reply back with.

Fitz smartly said back, "Yeah well he hasn't worn it _or_ the fez we gave him for his birthday."

Simmons waved her hand aside and said elegantly. "I believe _you_ gave him that thing. _I _gave him a bowtie."

"Well he hasn't worn that yet either!" Fitz pointed out exuberantly.

My head went back and forth to Simmons to Fitz. Their conversation was wild and I couldn't understand a single thing they were going on about. Designer's tie, fizz, bowtie, Tardisk… what were they going on about?

Just then Smith came in. "Hey, guys. Cool it with the Game of Who talk," Smith said.

So… the fizz, bowtie, and Tardisk were from Game of Who?

"What is Game of Who?" I spouted before stopping myself.

There was a split second of silence, then hysterical laughter from Fitz and Simmons.

"Oh, Bucky, you're so funny," Simmons chuckled.

"Truly funny. Bucky my man, you are thinking of Game of Ponies and Goctor Who, not Game of Who," Fitz chimed in.

Smith blinked and looked at the two geek's face. "Guys… stop confusing Bucky… taking advantage of his lack of TV references isn't funny."

"Hey now," Simmons sighed. "You're the one who came up with Game of Who."

Smith rolled her eyes and banged down a laptop onto the counter. "Look can we be serious for a second?" Smith asked.

Simmons put on a straight face. "Shoot away."

Smith opened the laptop and began to type.

All the sudden, I imagined that I had access to the internet. There it was. I still had the microchip in my head. I should probably tell them. Maybe they already knew about it.

I wondered if I had a scar on my head or anything.

"So… how'd we escape?" I asked, trying to ignore the fact that I had a computer in my brain.

Fitz popped his knuckles and said, "We took a jet. Coulson wasn't particularly happy about the Bus going up into a ball of fire."

"Raina's fault," I insisted.

Simmons looked up at me and scrunched up her face. "Bucky… if you were coming for us, what took you so long?"

As if on cue, my mouth went dry and sand began to slide down my throat, making it impossible for me to speak.

Fitz blinked hard and said, "Yeah, and how did you get pumped full of strychnine?"

"And how were you able to break the code that locked us in?"

"And why did you think you were in Hawaii?"

"Fitz," Simmons said turning on Fitz. "I can understand why he thought he was at Hawaii. Water everywhere, palm trees, etc. That was kind of a stupid question."

Fitz shrugged and said, "My bad."

Smith piped up, "Okay, I've got it up."

"Ready when you are," Simmons said, brushing back some hair and then lowering protection goggles over her eyes. She wiggled her eye brows and adjusted the goggles.

Fitz did a facepalm and said, "Jemma, this isn't an experiment we're doing…"

Simmons glanced at Fitz and then at Smith. "I guess you're right," She said, giggling a little.

"This actually isn't for you, Simmons," Smith said pleasantly.

Simmons shrugged and went back to some testing tubes. "Suit yourself…"

"Bucky," Smith said, looking up at me. "There's someone you may want to meet."

* * *

"I don't think I'm ready for this. I don't even remember who she was…" I said, knitting my eyebrows together. I scratched my thick hair and pondered what I was about to do.

Smith was sitting next to me. "It'll be fine. I know you don't remember her, but she'll remember you. Maybe. I have this totally under control," She said soothingly.

I leaned my head against the cool glass window of the car. This was wrong. This whole thing was wrong. "Was there any reason why you wanted me to meet her?"

Smith smoothed out her shirt and said, "She's on her deathbed, Bucky. Coulson was the one who wanted you to see her one last time."

My body tensed up when I heard the name Coulson. "Does Coulson hide stuff from his friends?" I asked calmly.

Smith shrugged. "When he does, it's usually to protect his friends. He's protecting me by making some people call me Smith," Smith said simply. She tucked back long brown hair behind her ear.

"I'm still not sure if I'm ready for this…" I said frowning hard.

I had recently gotten a better haircut at the Hub. The morning that I was going with Smith, I was given new clothes. Before putting my shirt on, Fitz insisted that he check for a tracker in my shirt. After passing inspection, it went to Simmons who had to double make sure. After that, Simmons demanded that she take a sample of my blood, to make sure that my blood cells and the given blood cells were coping.

Smith cocked her head a little to the side and smiled. "Don't worry, I'll be beside you."

I crossed my arms and grumbled, "Which will make it _twice_ as awkward…"

Smith laughed and said, "She'll be in her eighties! It's not like she can have you! Besides, I've been in worse awkward relationship moments."

I tried to ignore Smith. This was going to be a really awkward reunion.

I glared outside, watching the houses and buildings wiz by.

We went into the nursing home.

I never liked the nursing home to be honest. It smelled of heavy perfume and had a strange odder that I didn't know how to describe. It was so quiet and you weren't sure if someone was going to fall over and die the next day.

The woman at the front desk said, "May I help you?"

Smith took over and smiled, "Hi, we're here to see Clara Oswood."

The woman nodded and sifted through a name book.

I looked over Smith and at the book. I made a strange face as I saw a couple names crossed off the list. Those were probably the people who had died. I turned away and rubbed my eyes. Awkward already…

"Room five on the bottom floor. Simply turn over there," the woman indicated an acrylic nail to the right. "And then count the doors until you get to five."

And then count the doors until we got to five? Who did she think we were? Kids?

Smith seemed to notice my amusement and nudged me. "Thank you," She said sweetly to the lady at the desk.

We made our way down the hall. I shoved my hands deep into my pocket and lowered my Yankees baseball cap down my face.

Once we came to door five, Smith knocked on it timidly. "Why don't you let me start the talking," Smith said before anyone answered.

"Hey, this is _my_ old girlfriend. Don't you think _I _should be the one talking?" I hissed offensively.

Smith whispered back, "No, I really think I should."

Before our squabbling became too loud, a woman in cargo pants jogged up to us. "Sorry," She panted. "I'm Oswood's caretaker, Lindsey. Let me do the talking."

Smith and I both looked at each other and shrugged. Looks like it was settled then.

Lindsey knocked softly on the door and then opened it. She said softly, "Miss Clara?"

She opened the door wider so we could come in.

Clara's room was white. So were the sheets. So was her hair. Clara had snowy white hair that fell peacefully around her round face. She was hooked up with an iv and was propped up by pillows. A neglected book lay in her lap, her eyes closed. Her soft breathing made the book rise up and sink.

Lindsey said a little louder, "Miss Clara! You have company."

Clara opened her eyes. She had big brown eyes. She blinked and studied my face hard. "B-Bucky…?" She asked softly.

I was startled. Clara sure had a good memory, even if she was on the verge of death.

I gave a panicked look at Smith for help. Smith smiled and said, "This isn't Bucky, ma'am. Bucky has been dead for a couple years."

More like: should be dead for several decades, I thought sourly.

Clara's eyebrows knitted together and she droned softly "They told me my old boyfriend still lives…"

I blinked. "What did they say about Bucky?"

Smith's eyes were narrowed as she glared at me. "You're asking for it," She hissed to me.

Clara's eyes went misty. "That he was the… Winter Soldier," Clara said. "But you look so much like him."

Smith's mouth was opened a little, not quite sure what to do. Then Smith said, "Yeah, well… this is Bucky's grandson."

My eyes widened a little and I glanced at Smith in a peculiar way. Something told me she hadn't thought this out as well as she wanted to.

Clara looked up at me and patted the bedspread. "Come here, I want to take a closer look at you…"

I once again tried making eye contacting with Smith. She looked apologetically at me. I rolled my eyes and walked over to Clara.

I had to say over and over in my mind, Clara is on her deathbed, so I'm being nice…

I looked at Clara. She looked at me.

"What's your name?" Clara asked mystified.

I darted my eyes at Smith, once again panicking.

"I'm his girlfriend Stacy," Smith said quickly. "And he's Sebastian."

I nodded violently. "Exactly what she said," I stuttered. It dawned on me what she said. _Girlfriend_?!

Clara laid a hand on my arm, which nearly made me jump, since it was my metal arm she was touching, and said, "You look _exactly_ like Bucky… he must have married and had a child before he became the Winter Soldier…"

I managed a smile. "Yeah well… like father like son—wait, I mean like grandfather like son," I said awkwardly. I quickly changed the subject. "So, were you and Bucky close?"

Clara managed to shrug. "I don't really know. He asked me out that one night when he was trying to double date with Steve and Betty."

I glanced up at Clara. "Steve?"

Clara crowed with laughter. "Didn't your granddad ever tell you about Steve Rogers? He's been in the newspaper!"

I licked my dry lips, trying to grasp what she was talking about.

"S-Steve's alive?" I managed to say.

Clara said to Lindsey, "Bring me that magazine I was reading, Lind."

Lindsey nodded and began to search through a number of Allure and Glamorous magazines. Then she pulled out one news magazine.

I started when I saw who was on the front. I pointed at the magazine and stammered, "T-that—" I quickly walked over to it and snatched it out of Lindsey's hand.

"Sebastian, listen to me closely. Your grandfather is still out there. As the Winter Soldier. Captain America is hunting him down. He won't give up," Clara mused.

The sudden flood of memories and the feeling that I was being hunted down by this ghost scared me. Still clutching the magazine, I quickly made my escape out of Clara's room.

Without thinking, I bumped an elderly man with glasses. His glasses knocked off onto the floor and made a clattered. I did an about-face and mechanically picked up his glasses. He had white hair and a little mustache. He looked at what I was holding and said, "Been reading about the latest news, Sonny?"

My lips moved on their own and I said, "Sort of. Sorry Mr.—"

"Lee. Mr. Lee," he said kindly.

I nodded and quickly made my escape.

* * *

Sebastian. _Really_?

It was raining outside. I could smell the rain and hear the rumbling of the thunder. It was bitter cold, but I was all wound up. I was wandering aimlessly, avoiding traffic here and there. I finally went into a small grocery store where I could catch my breath.

A couple people stared at the drenched guy with the baseball cap. I lowered my cap and inched away to a corner.

I flipped through the soggy magazine, careful not to rip the tender paper. I nearly slammed the magazine close when I saw a picture of me.

I hungrily devoured the words that were right in front of me.

_Winter Soldier… Steve Rogers fights for America… blah blah blah… continuing the search to find his friend?!_ My mind swirled and raced. Steve Rogers could be after me this very minute. What did he want from me?

Someone grabbed my shoulder and I nearly tried defending myself with my metal arm. I turned to see Smith, drenched in water. "Don't startle me!" I snarled angrily.

"Don't leave me like that!" Smith retorted haughty.

I took off my cap and madly ran my fingers through my hair. "_Girlfriend?! Sebastian_?! _No_ _one_ has the name Sebastian, Smith, _no one_!" I snarled quietly.

"Johann Sebastian Bach!" Smith pointed out stubbornly.

I was nearly on the verge of pulling my hair out. "Sebastian. Really?! Girlfriend. _Really_?! What a way to make it awkward! Way to go, Smith,_ way to go_."

Smith made a 'ttttffff' noise and barked, "It was the first name that popped in my head! And besides, Clara was already married!"

She blinked and stared at me.

"What?" I said impatiently.

She smiled mischievously and said, "Though… the name Sebastian fits you, eh Bucks?"

I gritted my teeth and snarled grouchily, "_Don't_ call me Bucks, and don't call me Sebastian. I don't want the fluffy animal name of Sebastian."

"You could stop making a big scene out of it, and move on with life," Smith said, crossing her arms.

I mumbled something under my breath.

Smith turned her gaze away from me and said, "She wasn't on her deathbed…"

"What?" I asked completely baffled.

Smith tried making eye contact with me, but her gaze was either at my nose or my forehead. "Clara… wasn't really on her deathbed."

"Explain. _NOW_," I said loudly.

Smith said quickly all in one breath, "She wasn't really on her deathbed, I made it sound like she was on her deathbed that way you would be more inclined to see her one last time."

The words soaked into my brain. "You… _tricked_ me?" I said slowly. "Why the heck would you trick me?"

Smith didn't miss a beat. "Because Coulson wanted you to find out more about Captain America!"

I went quiet and bowed my head ever so slightly. "That's a _great_ way to find something out," I growled.

Smith laid a hand on my shoulder. "Bucky, you and Steve used to be childhood friends. You two were unstoppable. No one could ever stop that friendship," Smith said soothingly.

I looked into her dark brown eyes. "But it did stop," I said simply.

"You were the one who stopped it," Smith said in a slow voice. "But you can fit it. You simply have to—"

"Believe?" I said sarcastically, I shrugged off Smith's hand. She blinked blankly. "No. You simply have to _try_. You can't believe in something unless you try it."

"Are you proposing that I go and find Steve Rogers?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She smiled a little at me. "I think that's a great way to put it."


	5. Chapter 5

**Written by Tora**

* * *

**Chapter Five The Long Way Home**

The first thing that popped in my head was no. The first thing I said was likewise no.

Smith gave me a blank face and then bursts out, "How can you say no when you haven't even tried it?!"

I put on my cap and crossed my arms. "Simple. You say _no_," I repeated.

"Good grief," Smith said putting her hands on her hips. "You're such a baby."

I glared at her and showed my metal fist at her. "Care to repeat?" I said dangerously.

"You wouldn't," Smith said carelessly.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms again. "Fine, you caught my bluff. Let's go, _please_," I barked in an agitated manner.

"Go?" Smith said reproachfully. "Bucky, we're at a grocery store. It's raining cats and dogs. We're totally lost. And it's your fault. You, sir, are going to find a way back home, while I do some shopping."

"_Excuse me_!" I snarled. "_I lost us_?! Who's dumb idea was it to visit my old girlfriend in the first place?!"

"If you could have just gone along with the flow!"

"If you could have just planned a better way for me to find out more about my old friend!"

"If you could have just not freaked out!"

"You wanna wager on that one? Who's brilliant idea was to give me this metal arm and keep me alive for decades?!"

Smith replied back, "Um, Bucky… that was off the subject. Besides, _no one_ uses the word wager anymore."

I thought about it. No it wasn't. If I hadn't had that metal arm, I would have probably married Clara and lived a normal life, assuming I survived the war.

"Besides, no one uses the name Sebastian anymore," I pointed out stubbornly.

"We're _over_ that talk," Smith said loudly. She tossed me a GPS and said, "Program it to find the Hub."

Smith took a shopping basket and went away.

GPS? What did that stand for? More important, how the heck did you _use_ this GPS? I carefully turned the devise over in my hand.

In my mind, I typed in, _how do I use a GPS_?

The internet in my mind did only take a couple seconds to load, but it said in bold text: **_NO WI-FI_**

No wi-fi? Dang it! That meant that the store didn't have free wi-fi. Of all the places not to have free wi-fi!

I had no wish to go up to a stranger and ask them how to use a S.H.I.E.L.D. gadget.

I began to wander around the store, looking for Smith. I walked down rows of festive looking fruits. The tantalizing odor wafting up my nose. Misty water sprayed the fresh rows of vegetables.

My gaze fell upon a boy with his mother. The boy was wearing a shirt with a shield on the front. There was a star in the middle of the shield. I recognized that shield. The boy glanced up at me and I quickly turned my head away.

"Did you find a way home?" Asked a bossy voice behind me.

I turned to see Smith looking at the veggies. There were packets of dried food in her basket and a couple water bottles.

"What are those for?" I asked pointing to the food.

Smith picked up a cabbage and looked it all around. "Just in case we don't make it back."

I blinked blankly. "Aren't you perseverating just a wee bit?" I joked.

Smith seemed deadly serious. "Ward used to tell me to always be ready," A small smile twitched on the side of her mouth. "Told me that dried food is better than fresh." Smith's voice died away.

I took the basket from Smith and asked, "Close?"

Smith shrugged. She seemed lost in memories.

I hummed a little and said, "So would you rather keep your memories or lose them?"

Smith put the cabbage back and eyed a batch of rotten tomatoes. "I guess it would… nah, I think losing your memories is worse."

I smiled. "See?" I said triumphantly. "You'll be able to learn from your memories."

Smith smiled. "I'm Skye."

"What?" I said completely puzzled. "You're sky? Blue sky?"

Smith laughed and said, "My name is Skye."

I was completely dumbfounded. Wasn't she _not_ supposed to tell her name? What was the point of a code name if you weren't going to use it?

I stared at Smith and roared, "And _why_ did you tell me your name?!"

Skye waved her hand around and then tossed in some tried fruit. "There's no reason to keep the secret," She mused on.

"No reason to keep the secret? _No reason to keep the secret_," I lectured. "_Skye_, you're a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. You can't be one if you're going to be all impulsive!"

Skye didn't seem bothered. "I think Coulson just wanted me to have that code name until I could trust you. Beside," She said a little darkly. "I'm not an agent anymore."

I blew up, "Coulson didn't want you to have that name until you could trust me! He wanted you to have that name so that way if I got caught, I couldn't give out names! You're the only other person besides Coulson and me who has been injected with GH325. He was trying to protect you!"

Skye ignored me and went down the aisle with canned veggies. "How fond are you of canned veggies?"

"_Skye_," I said dangerously. "We're going back to the hub. _Now_. I'll push the cart, you program home." I shoved the GPS into her hands.

"Let's get a map," Skye order, pointing to a row of maps and birthday cards.

I looked at the maps while Skye programed home onto the GPS. I looked at each map carefully. "Is it all that important what map we get?" I moaned in annoyance. I couldn't wait to tattle on Skye to Coulson. Sheesh, honesty, what agent goes around blowing their cover?

Skye looked up from the GPS and said, "Yes it's important. Get that one."

"This one?" I asked picking up one of the maps.

"No, that one," Skye said. "It's important that we get one with the whole State."

"But it's more expensive," I complained.

Skye patted her purse. "Always prepared, right, Sebastian?" She teased.

I was in no mood for joking. I gritted my teeth and hissed, "What did I say about the name calling?!"

Skye tossed her long hair and said smirked, "It's important that you go under a code name, Bucky."

_Oh really_! "And why don't you go under one?!" I snapped.

Skye ignored the question and said, "Okay, Bucks, let's go home."

* * *

I don't know who realized it first.

If it was Skye. Or me. Or if we both realized it at the same time.

By that time, we were both desperate and knew it was a matter of time before we got there. We didn't even know if our driver was a part of it all. We had to play dumb.

We had been riding in peace, when Skye pointed out to me that this didn't seem the right way back to the Hub. We weren't going directly to the Hub in a taxi car, we simply were going to be dropped off at a certain place, where some agents could pick us up and then take us back to the Hub.

I thought maybe it was a different way to taking us back.

We rode in more peace.

Skye checked the GPS and found it had been reprogramed to take us somewhere else. Where? We didn't know. Skye suspected that the taxi cab was in on the plan to take us where we didn't want to go.

That's when I started going by Sebastian and Skye by Stacy Smith. We knew this person had the right people, but at least we could hide our real names. Maybe.

Skye handed me some jerky and said, "Here, Sebastian, why don't you take some food just in case."

I silently took the jerky and put it in my pocket.

"How much longer?" Skye asked. "I and my boyfriend are meeting some people and we don't want to be late."

I pressed my lips together and glared out the window. I leaned close to Skye and whispered angrily, "And why can't we ever be brother and sister?"

Skye replied back, "Men find other relationships awkward to be around. What's more uncomfortable than two lovey dovey couple? Besides, most brother and sisters these days don't get along particularly well."

Did it ever come to mind that _I_ might feel uncomfortable pretending to be in a love relationship? Nooo, Bucky's feelings don't matter because he's the Winter Soldier who has no feelings whatsoever.

I made a disgusted face but Skye gave me a warning look.

"Not too much longer," the man said.

His words gave me the shivers. I began to panic a little. Where were we going?

We turned off the highway and began making our way down a forgotten path.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Skye tugged lightly on my jacket. She whispered, "Bucky, we're going to have to jump out of the car."

_Jump out of the car_? That's what they did in car chasing movies. That's not what people did when they wanted to survive.

Skye saw my worried look. "You have your arm. Use it to your advantage."

My arm. Right, it was working again, thanks to Fitz and Simmons. "How fast do you think we're going?" I hissed back.

Skye leaned forward. After eyeing the front she said, "Maybe about thirty five."

I still didn't like this idea. But she was right; I could stop a lot of the fall with my arm. "I could just hijack the taxi driver," I said simply.

Skye thought about it. "And what if he alerted the people?"

I pointed out logically, "Well even if we jump and survive, he'll still alert whoever he's working for. Beside, jumping out doesn't seem like the best thing to do."

Skye thought about it. "Good point. Let's go for hijacking."

"Distract," was all I hissed back.

I hadn't hijacked something in a while. Could I bring myself to do what I used to do? I had to constantly repeat in my brain that it was for Skye and mine's protection.

"Hey! Watch out! You nearly ran over a rabbit!" Skye barked angrily.

"Did I?" The man asked. "I'm truly sorry."

Skye continued to distract, "So is there a way we can stop for a bathroom break? I gotta go kinda. And this place you're taking us? I don't think we're going the right way."

The man hummed a little and tapped his finger on the steering wheel.

I drew in a shaky breath. He was getting suspicious no doubt. I watched is moves carefully. He reached for a small button.

Skye seemed to notice the move too and yelled, "NOW!"

Two things happened at once.

The man pressed the button, and without realizing it, I had broken through the metal mesh that was blocking us and him.

The man swerved to the right, knocking me off balance. I dug my metal hand into the passenger's seat to keep steady. Then I tore it out and tried to stop the man. He was rather dodgy and quick. He quickly produced gun and then… shot me.

* * *

The night night gun. Other names for it: the ICER. Or the gun that shot me three times in the last couple days. If someone was going to _shoot_ me, could they _please_ just shoot me with a normal gun? It's humiliating to be shot with a night night gun.

Where was I?

Strapped to a chair. My feet were strapped to the chair with metal cuffs. From the looks of it, it looked like some kind of metal electrocution chair. In front of me, Skye was still out from the gun.

I looked around the room. It was all white. I hated the colour white. It made me queasy just to think about all white. It was uncomfortable and too quiet.

Skye blinked her eyes and raised her head a little. "My head…" She whimpered.

"Skye, I have something to ask you," I said quietly. My head throbbed too, but I've learned to cope with it more or less.

"Shoot away," she grumbled. She tried focusing her eyes on me, but she finally gave up and closed them.

I hope she was listening to me. "You've handled the fact that Ward was Hydra remarkably well. But wasn't he close to the crew? Coulson, Fitz, Simmons, May, and you?" I asked simply. While I asked, it tried breaking from the metal cuffs that were keeping me from moving.

Skye's eyes slit open a little and she said, "It wasn't easy. We didn't take it well. And because we didn't take it well, we weren't able to do our mission right. Hydra may be discovered, but they're working together. They're not scared. Us agents, we're being hunted down. We can't build S.H.I.E.L.D. up again. The night I found out Ward was Hydra, I threw up at least two times. I couldn't go to sleep."

I thought over what she said. "Skye… I have the Ghost Network in my brain," I said slowly. I couldn't believe I was telling her about me having the Ghost Network in my mind. But before I could go on, to my shock, Skye replied, "Me too."

I jerked my head up and stared at her. "You have the—"

"Yep. I got it at the Fridge. I was willing to drill a hole in my brain and get a little chip in my brain to help out my friends. Simmons preformed the drilling. I thought I was in hell, it hurt so badly," Skye described.

"I never felt the pain. I just realized that I had it," I told her.

Skye rolled her eyes and said, "Lucky…"

I wasn't quite sure how much of it was 'luck'.

Just then, the doors opened and a man in comfy lab coat came in. He adjusted his glasses and beamed a smile at me. The smile almost reminded me of Coulson's smile. That same dry amused smile. He nodded and me and then at Skye.

The man was followed by a couple of other men.

"I'm John Averi," the man said with the amused smile.

Skye glanced at me. I held my mouth shut.

"Shy," Averi commented, as he pulled up a chair and sat in it backwards. He rested his head on his hands and said, "Welcome."

Skye started off with, "Who exactly are you?"

"John Averi," Averi nodded curtly.

Skye rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, I get that. But who do you work for?"

Averi waved away her question and said, "That's not important at the moment. So you know you have GH325 in you, right?"

I looked at Skye. She seemed perfectly fine being rude and confident, I figured she could be the talker.

"Yeah?" Skye said simply.

I figured that if they already knew we had it, then there'd be no point in trying to hide it.

"You're aware of the side effects?" Averi said, tilting his head a little to the side.

Skye licked her lips. "Of course," She replied. But even she couldn't pull off that reply.

Averi gave her a smile. "And within a year or so, you'll probably end up dying?"

Skye's mouth opened and closed. "Well," Skye started quietly. "Our friend was injected with it a year ago since the Manhattan takeover. And he hasn't died."

Averi lifted his head a little and said, "And that proves that you don't know the side effects for it."

Skye clamped her mouth shut tight as a clam.

"James," Averi said cheerfully, turning on me. I flinched at my name. How the heck did he know it? "Did you know that you were injected with GH325 for over sixty years?"

"GH325 has been around for that long?!" Skye shouted out.

Averi turned to Skye and said, "Operation T.A.H.I.T.I. has only been around since the Manhattan takeover. The name GH325 has likewise only been over for a year. The creature has been around for about a hundred years."

"Bucky should have died _ages_ ago!" Skye protested angrily.

She was right. If GH325 slowly killed you, then I should have been dead long ago.

Averi's intense stare at Skye and me never wavered. "He should have. But Hydra found out that if you mind wiped the person who was injected with GH325, then they survive," Averi said coolly.

Skye's eyes widened. "You mean…"

"Exactly," Averi said patiently. Sparing her from connecting the dots, he said, "Every time Bucky was seriously hurt, we'd inject GH325 into him. And then we'd mind wipe him."

"And is there any point to being here right now?" Skye demanded.

"Bucky, you may not remember the chair, but I'm planning to save you guys… and mind wipe you two," Averi said simply. He pushed up his glasses and stood up from the chair.

Skye's mouth dropped open. She tried saying something and looked at me for help. But I was likewise in shock. They were planning to _mind_ _wipe_ us? I had just found out who Steve Rogers was. I knew who I was. I had friends who understood me.

Skye looked like she was going to faint. She began to breathe a little too fast.

Averi walked to the door, "We'll be back in a few minutes. Enjoy your last memories."

The men, who had followed Averi in, walked out with him.

They closed the door.

Skye began to panic. She broke out into tears and began to breathe way to fast. "I-I can't… oh please, God, don't let this h-hap-p-pen," She said shakily. Skye began to frantically tug at the metal cuffs. "Bucky, get me out!" She screamed. Tears streamed down her face.

Whoever said that when women cried it was pretty? It wasn't pretty. Skye was panicking and screaming, jerking around in her chair. There was _nothing_ pretty about a woman crying.

I found that I was either not taking in breaths of air, or was taking it in lightly. My head spun, Skye's screaming was keeping me from thinking.

"Don't take away my only family," Skye cried. She was trembling all over and was completely exhausted from the struggle.

"Skye, get control over yourself," I barked. "I need to talk to you."

But it was useless. She was completely in a panic.

"SKYE!" I roared. "YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME!"

Skye glanced up at me, but she didn't seem to realize that I was trying to get to her. She simply stared in terror at me. "What am I going to do? Coulson… Fitz… Simmons…!" She choked.

"Skye," I said. "If you listen to me, I think I can save our memories."

Skye's eyes darted up at me and she breathed heavily. "Tell me!"

"We can save our memories on the Ghost Network. We can make a file of our memories," I said coaxingly.

Skye screamed back, "But we won't even remember that we have the Ghost Network!"

I replied quickly, "No we won't, but when we want the internet, it pops up on cue. If we book mark our place then it will pop up with the file. Please try it, Skye."

Skye regained a little bit of control. "Fine," she said simply. "We have to do it quickly."

I imagined that I was using the internet. I was making a new file. It was named 'Memories'. I quickly jotted down all my memories that I had. I recorded all the conversations that I could remember.

_Steve Rogers: best friend, Captain America, blonde hair, blue eyes, tall, and is still looking for me._

_"__James Barnes. I was named after James Buchannan. I'm thinking about going by Bucky though."_

_ "__Bucky. I like that." _

_"__What's your name again?" _

_"__Not as nice as yours, James. I'm just Steve. Steve Rogers_

The door opened and Averi walked in again. I frantically blotted down any random memories.

He was carrying something.

He walked over to Skye and said, "Open wide. I'm giving you a mouth guard that way you won't destroy your teeth."

Skye opened her mouth. Her lips were trembling and she seemed a shade paler.

"We found one of the chairs in the last Hydra base. Then we were able to make a twin chair," Averi said, as he walked over to me. "Say 'aaaa'."

I opened my mouth reluctantly and Averi placed a mouth guard into my mouth.

Then he lowered a metal crown like thing over my head that fit perfectly. Some man likewise put a crown on Skye.

Skye was breathing frantically again.

"Okay," Averi said. "Let a rip."

The next moments were hell. I felt pain. And that was it. I felt so much pain. Was that my life? Pain? All pain?

My eyes opened. I was lying on the floor. Was this were I was born?

A foot away from me was a woman whose hair was matted and tangled with blood. Her nose was bleeding and at the corner of her mouth was dry blood.

I hurt all over.

How was I thinking? Did I learn to think? Does someone think when they are born?

I exhaled and closed my eyes. I could smell blood. My hands were warm and sticky.

Someone rolled me over onto my back.

A man hovered over me. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. I simply stared at him. He had a concerned look. Then he spoke. "Bucky…" he choked out.

Bucky…?

"It's me… Steve. Your best pal, Steve Rogers," the man said, he griped my arm tightly. He looked nearly on the verge of tears.

Who was Steve Rogers?


	6. Chapter 6

**Written by Tora**

* * *

**Chapter 6 The Genesis Experiments **

All I could do was stare at him. There wasn't much to do other than stare at him.

There were several other people in the room.

A man with a grim look on his face. An Asian woman who looked like she could beat the crud out of you. A woman who had safety goggles clutched in her hands and was crying over the woman on the floor. And man with curly brown hair.

"We were too late," said the man with a grim face.

Steve didn't take his eyes off me. "Coulson… did they do the same to you?"

The man swore and said dryly, "More or less. But Hydra wasn't behind the project they did on me…"

I managed to prop myself up with the help of Steve. I was breathing shallowly. "Where am I? Who am I?"

Steve kneeled down to the floor so that he was leveled with me. He looked directly into my eyes. "You are James Buchannan Barnes. And you're my best friend."

Best friend? We had just met and here Steve was, making up a new name for me and calling me his best friend. Wasn't that a little too soon, Mr. Rogers?

I was so exhausted. I leaned my head back. I just wanted to be left alone.

What brought me back to reality was a woman's voice asking the same question I had asked. "Who am I?" She asked.

I opened my eyes and saw the woman a foot away from me. She was awake.

"Help me," She croaked in pain.

"Simmons, get the medic bag," Coulson ordered, or whom I presume was Coulson.

Simmons frantically left the room, followed by the man with curly brown hair.

I turned my gaze back at Steve. He was now sitting down next to me.

"Bucky," Steve said quietly.

I snapped angrily back, "Who are you calling Bucky?!"

Steve sucked in a swear word and said, "I was calling you Bucky…"

I crossed my arms and pointed out stubbornly, "I thought I was _James Buchannan Barnes_?!"

Steve didn't say anything. He just looked sad.

I looked at my hands. They were red with blood.

Simmons came back with a medic bag. Her hands trembled as she got things out.

I shifted uncomfortably. Who were these people? And who was I? _Really_. _Who was I_?

I looked around the room for the first time. There were several dead men. Blood was splattered on the wall and guts were hanging out from their stomachs.

I looked down at my hands and found that I was trembling. My hands were so red. "Did… _I_ kill them…?" I whispered, staring down at horror at the evidence. "Oh please don't tell me… I murdered them… _I—I don't want to be a murderer_…"

Steve rested a hand on my metal shoulder. "Buc—James…" He said soothingly.

I was already a murderer. I felt like I could throw up at any moment. The overwhelming thought knocked the wind out of me. I was a killer.

Coulson and Simmons helped the woman sit up. She was as clueless as I was.

"Oh my…" the words died on her lips as she saw the bodies and blood. She put her hand over her mouth and doubled over to throw up. Once she was sat up and inched away from the vomit, she questioned, "Who am I?"

Simmons hugged the dazed woman and wept, "You're Skye! And you're our friend! Oh, Skye!"

The woman who Simmons called Skye leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. "Skye," She said in a quiet voice. "I like the sound of that…"

I, however, did not like the name James Buchannan or Bucky for that matter. She got lucky with that name.

"Coulson," Steve said, turning to look at Coulson. "Is there a reason why they keep mind wiping my friend?"

"Yup," Coulson said turning to me. "They mind wiped me for the same reason as they mind wiped Bucky."

"Who is Bucky?!" I shouted angrily.

Skye jolted her head and gave me a spacy look. "Oh my gosh! Bucky…! Bucky. Bucky. Bucky Barnes?"

Steve looked at Skye with sudden interest. "Yes, James Buchannan. Are you starting to remember?" He said with hastiness and excitement.

Skye looked like she was trying to remember so hard. "Bucky… Bucky…" She kept repeating. "Why does that name sound so familiar?"

If Bucky sounded familiar to her, shouldn't Skye sound familiar to me?

The man with curly brown hair blue eyes whispered aloud, "Is it possible… that because she's so smart, that she'll remember quicker? She does have a mind of a hacker…"

"That can't happen," Coulson said quickly. "If she regains her memories about GH325, then she'll go insane."

Simmons licked her lips. "Coulson… remember when you told us about T.A.H.I.T.I? And what they did to you?" Simmons replied carefully, as if a single word could set off dynamites.

Coulson's face slackened and he looked a little distant. Then he snapped back into reality and he said quickly, "No. You can't be saying that you want… I won't allow it. That was hell, and I'm not going to put her through what I went through. That constant wandering, those bad dreams, and so on. I don't care if it's a magical place; she's not going through that."

The man with the curly hair and the thick Scottish accent piped up, "Coulson, what Simmons is trying to say… is that there may be no choice once she remembers everything. Besides, it's not like she'll lose all her memories."

Coulson banged his fist on the ground and said in a stately manner, "Fitz, I'm _not_ going to have Skye go through that, and that is that, understand?"

"A-are you guys talking about me?" Skye asked in a low voice. Her voice was crackly and her face was pale. "Bucky…" she repeated.

I rolled my eyes, I wish she would stop repeating herself, it was getting annoying. I was already fed up. I was a murder. _A murderer._

They all turned to look at Skye.

Coulson nodded sadly and looked at Skye in a strange and haunting look. "We were. But I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you. I promise," Coulson said quietly.

Skye gave Coulson a distant look. "Are… you my dad?"

Coulson smiled a dry sort of smile. "No. But we're your family."

* * *

Family. What does that mean? That's the question I asked Steve. Steve said family was where you cared for each other. Eat the same foods, lived under the same roof, and strive for the same freedom and love.

If you weren't born into a family… how could you _be_ a family?

Our driver was a quiet Asian woman, who looked ten times scarier with aviators on then without.

"So," our driver said in a quiet voice. "Did you figure out if it was the other Hydra?"

Hydra?

"Please," Coulson said calmly. "Let's not talk about it here."

The woman cocked her head a little to the side. "Suit yourself," she replied. "Fitz, get your feet off the dashboard."

Fitz, who was the one with curly hair and the strong accent, took his feet off the dashboard and said, "Sorry, May. I'm having some problems with my connection."

"That has nothing to do with the dashboard," May replied sharply.

Fitz shrugged and turned around to see how the people in the back were fairing.

I was squashed between Steve and Coulson. In the back were Skye and Simmons, along with some guns and a rather large shield with a star painted on the middle.

I didn't have a problem where we were going. In fact, I wanted to leave that white room with blood everywhere. I had finally gotten the sticky red blood off my hands.

I was trembling all over. I wasn't cold or hot. But I couldn't stop trembling.

"Once we get back," Simmons said aloud. "I want to take some blood samples."

I groaned. Please, no more blood. I was stick of the sight of blood.

We sat in silence. Then, "Bucky… you really don't remember anything?"

I glared viciously and spat spitefully back at Steve, "Will you stop calling me Bucky?!"

Steve sighed and leaned his head against the glass window. "Okay… what do you _want_ me to call you? James?"

I gave a distress groan and said, "I don't know!"

"Sebastian?" said Skye from behind. She had been completely quiet for an hour.

"_Sebastian_?!" I said in disgust. "I think _not_!"

"No," Skye said. She leaned over and said staring at me, "Your name _is_ Sebastian."

"I _am not_ Sebastian!" I protested angrily. "If you call me Sebastian, I'll call you_ Stacy_!"

Skye blinked several times. She stared at me with witchy brown eyes. Where had I seen witchy brown eyes the size of owls before? "My name…" Skye said softly. "My name is Stacy, Sebastian. Stacy Smith…"

I stared at her. She was _seriously_ going insane. Coulson was about to break up the tension when Simmons jumped in and said, "Wait! Coulson don't do anything. I think she's starting to remember things. Her code name _was_ Smith, remember?"

"Sebastian," Skye repeated in a dazed voice.

I turned away from her and crossed my arms. "I am in no mood for joking, Stacy."

Fitz wondered aloud, "Why is Skye calling Bucky Sebastian and Bucky calling Skye Stacy?"

"Okeydokey!" Simmons said. "I've figured out who the driver was. Eoin Schaeffer is a Hydra Agent, who was pretending to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent—"

"Simmons, most of the Hydra Agents were pretending to be agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!" Fitz corrected Simmons.

"You mean _all_ of the Hydra agents were pretending to be S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?" May corrected Fitz.

"Right," Simmons said slowly, a little confused sounding. "Well anyway, Eoin Schaeffer actually has a higher rank than John Averi."

"Who?" Fitz asked, turning his torso around to face Simmons.

"Fitz if we crash," Snarled May. "You are going to feel it."

Fitz blinked and turned around. "Bossy," slipped from Fitz's lips. "So, Simmons, who exactly is John Averi? You know, on top of that, tell me who Eoin Schaeffer is?"

Simmons cleared her throat and said in a loud voice, "Eoin Schaeffer was the person who took Bucky and Skye to the Hydra lab."

"That doesn't make sense," Protested Fitz in annoyance. "How did you know Eoin Schaeffer was the driver?"

Simmons raised an eyebrow ever so slightly and held up a badge. "Ahem," She mused quietly.

Fitz turned around his seat and gaped at the badge she held. "And how the heck did you get that?!" Fitz marveled clutching onto the car's arm rests.

Simmons gave Fitz a superior smirk and said, "I gave a closer look at the taxi cab. You were too busy trying to—"

"Simmons," Coulson said in a discouraged voice. "Just get to the point. We don't have all day."

"Eoin Schaeffer is the creator of Hydra Lab 2.0. The first Hydra Lab was in Germany and was destroyed, only to be brought back up here by—well you guessed, Mr. Schaeffer. Mr. Schaeffer's father was a part of the ghost Hydra. He likewise was part of the ghost Hydra," Simmons finished simply. She shut her laptop and smiled.

"Ghost Hydra?" Fitz demanded.

Simmons rolled her eyes and said, "Fitz, please tell me you're acting stupid on purpose…"

Fitz turned around and snapped angrily, "Hey, that was _not_ nice, Jemma!"

"Ghost Hydra is just the word for the Hydra that we never knew about until a couple weeks ago," Simmons said rolling her eyes enthusiastically, making sure Fitz saw.

Fitz grumbled and slumped into his seat.

"Okay," Coulson said. "I know we've had a stressful day. Skye and Bucky both lost their memories. Once we get back to the Hub, I would like to talk to everyone."

Simmons put away her laptop and said in a superior voice, "Sure!"

Coulson turned around and gave Simmons a little sad face. "Sorry, Simmons. But you're gonna have to stay with Skye and Bucky."

Simmons rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance.

* * *

"So…" Simmons said slowly. "You really don't remember anything?"

What was Simmons talking about? Ever since we got back to the 'Hub' she had been trying to 'trigger' out memories.

Skye was the only one who remembered a little. Something about Sebastian and Stacy Smith. It was clear she went mad long ago. She kept calling me Sebastian. I _was not_ Sebastian. I had no clue who I was. The name everyone called me (besides Skye) was Bucky.

"Remember _what_?!" I snapped angrily. Why was she so keen to know my memories?

Simmons was concentrating on the blood samples that she insisted on taking. "Skye," She said, ignoring me. "Do you remember how much you liked hacking? And pirating?"

Skye blinked and stopped flipping through a first aid book. "Pirating? That's illegal."

Simmons raised her eyebrows in awe. Under her breath she murmured, "Says the hacker…"

Skye went back to flipping through the book. "So," Skye said, mainly for the sake of avoiding silence. "Where are we?"

"I tried asking that," I pointed out.

Simmons's body tensed up a little. She concentrated hard on the blood samples, but I had a feeling her mind was far from concentrating on the blood. Simmons stood up rather abruptly and said, "Right… this sample seems to be just fine. I am going to… put it up now!"

Why was she narrating what she was doing?

Simmons didn't put it up right away. She got a large book and flipped through it. "The blood samples I took of you a while back need to match up with the blood samples I have right here," Simmons murmured more to herself than to us.

Simmons stopped flipping and looked the reports. She softly hummed to herself while studying the writing.

Right then, several men came into the room. They were dressed for combat, with guns strapped to their backs and smaller guns in holsters.

"Miss Simmons," one of the men said. He had dark brown hair and beady blue eyes.

Simmons jumped a little and said politely, "Can I help you?"

The man nodded and jerked his head in my directions. "We need to take Mr. Barnes to the lab rooms," he said simply.

Simmons absentmindedly glanced at me and said, "But I already took his blood…"

The man smiled a little at Simmons. "We're taking him to the E.T. lab room," He paused a little. "We think he's been under the Genesis Experiment."

Simmons blinked. "Well… so has Coulson…"

The man's smile faded. He argued politely, "Ma'am he was under Operation T.A.H.I.T.I. which wasn't run by Hydra."

Simmons muttered darkly, "Same difference…"

"What?"

"Okay, just be nice to Bucky. He, uh, kind of lost his memories," Simmons said standing up.

Skye looked up from her magazine and said, "Where's Sebastian going?"

I glared at Skye, who didn't seem to care in the least bit.

"Sebastian?" the man asked, raising an eyebrow.

Simmons quickly intervened, "That's Skye's pet name for Bucky!"

"_Pet name_?" I stuttered indignantly.

The man looked at me and then at Skye. He looked a little confused as to what was going on. Finally he said, "Alright… come along, Mr. Barnes."

I all too eager to leave Skye behind. She was really annoying. I solemnly followed the man out, never glancing back behind myself.

"So you're the Winter Soldier, right?" The man said, taking me down long corridors.

Winter… what? "Winter Soldier…" I echoed back.

The man roared with laughter, "It'll soon come back… to haunt you."

Haunt…?

After taking a left turn and then a right, the man prodded me into an elevator. There really wasn't a lot of room. Yet there were at least ten people in the elevator.

The man took me down several more long halls.

We finally went into a room that said in bold letter: EXTRATERRESTRIAL LAB ROOM.

Before I could give it any thought, the man pushed me into the room and followed up behind.

They weren't kidding about the extraterrestrial part… there were people with _glowing_ eyes. One woman laid on an operation bed, writhing around, her skin a yellowish green colour. Seeing that operation bed triggered an image into my mind.

Unusually large brown eyes. Dark skin. A flower—

"Coming?" the man asked.

I tore my eyes away from that bed, but those witch-like eyes… I felt like those huge brown eyes were still watching me. I instinctively looked behind myself to see if I was being watch. I wasn't. I quickly dogged after the man.

We halted at once lab desk. A squirrely woman with messy hair and slightly bucked teeth glanced up. She was at least in her forties, with silver hairs everywhere.

"Miss Regard," he said. Then he nodded politely to her. At least he was polite.

"Oh. Hello, Quinn. How can I help you on this fine day?" She asked.

"Miss Regard," Quinn repeated again. "This man is the Winter Soldier."

The woman looked me up and down with a critical eye. "Take off your shirt," She said thoughtfully.

"Take off my…" I repeated slowly, trying to grasp what she was getting at.

I took the shirt off and she came a little closer, her eyes drawn at my metal arm. "I have never…" She paused a little as she poked my arm. "That's… Vibranium."

"Can I put my shirt back on?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Regard blinked and then laughed, "Of course you may, my boy. So, what exactly has he come for, Quinn?"

Quinn glanced at me, and recapped, "You are aware of what they did to Mr. Barnes back in the day?"

"GH325," she concluded very simply. She didn't even glance up at Quinn.

Quinn shook his head and said, "He's been under the Genesis Experiment."

Regard looked up, she had a puzzled face. "What's the difference between the T.A.H.I.T.I. project and the Genesis Experiment?"

Quinn rolled his eyes. I recalled what Simmons had said to Quinn. _Same difference_ is what Simmons said. I gathered that he had gotten that reply back one time too many. "Take a blood sample," He finally said.

Regard took a blood sample. She studied the blood. "This… is strange. Some of these blood cells are his, and some of them aren't. Who was the last person who took his blood sample?"

Quinn thought hard. I said aloud, "Jemma Simmons."

Regard glanced up at me and said, "Simmons?"

I nodded.

Regard turn to Quinn and snapped impatiently, "Call down Simmons right away."

Quinn nodded and marched off.

"So what is the Genesis Experiment?" I asked.

Regard replied absentmindedly, "It's the equivalent to Operation T.A.H.I.T.I., but the Genesis Experiment was ran by Hydra back in the day. They named it the Genesis Experiment because Genesis meant beginning. For them, the beginning of a new age was starting. A cure that could cure anyone almost instantly. Unfortunately—it backfired."

"Backfired?" I said slowly.

Regard continued to almost talk absentmindedly to me, "The Genesis Experiment was first used on injured Hydra agents. But Hydra grew greedy. The horrible 'scientific' experiments they did in World War Two to the Jews, they were connected to the Genesis Experiment. The Jews couldn't fight off the side effects as well as the fat and healthy Hydra agents. They soon went insane. Then they found out that if you mind wiped them—they lived longer… there have been reports of a two or three people who have survived the gas chambers. Those people only survived because the other dead bodies piled on top of them, therefore the gas didn't kill them. The side effects were disturbing. Yellow eyes and skin. Constantly in a seizure. Another reason why they didn't die right away was because they had been through the Genesis Experiment." Regard's voice had become low and respectful to the Jews who died. "Once again, being weak, gassed, those very few people, throughout the Holocaust, soon died away."

"So… I was a Jew and they experimented on me?!" I tried to grasp. I was a little confused.

Regard gave me a look. "You are so stupid…"

I was about to object, when Simmons came up.

"Regard," She said coolly, smiling at Regard.

Regard glanced up and said, "Ah, hello, Simmons." She nodded curtly to Simmons and then stood up. "Where you aware that some of his blood cells aren't his own?"

Simmons nodded and then looked at me. She uncomfortably shifted her feet and said, "He was poisoned. So we replaced a lot of his blood…"

Poi—poisoned?

Regard clasped her hands together and said, "And so… wouldn't that mean you got most of the GH325 out?"

Simmons froze and it looked like something had just hit her really hard.

"Ahhh," Simmons said in a spacy voice.

Regard smiled a sparkly smile and said, "Precisely!"

Simmons smiled a little. "Right…" She said quietly. "I knew that already…"

"Sure!" Regard said, paying no attention to me or Simmons.

"Where's Skye?" I asked curiously.

Simmons lifted her head a little and said, "Back in the lab room. Guess what, Bucky…"

"What?" I replied without realizing it.

Simmons whispered into my ear, "I think she's starting to remember stuff!"

I raised an eyebrow. So? Like I really cared what Skye remembered. It seemed to me like a bunch of people knew my past, while I didn't remember _anything_.

I growled a little and snapped, "Why can she remember stuff, while _I_ can't?!"

Simmons jumped a little and stuttered, "W-well, different people have different ways of remembering."

"I see… so basically I'm going to get my memories back in the long run…?" I mused aloud.

Simmons smiled a rather fake smile. "I'll take that as a yes…" I added.

Simmons made a dismayed face and shrugged it off. "Anyway," Simmons said lightly. "Skye may remember faster than you. She's extremely smart, and she's always had a nack for remembering things."

"Why does she keep calling me Sebastian?"

"Maybe she likes that name."

"It's annoying. I hate that name."

"Take it up with her."

* * *

I never got around to taking it up with Skye.

I was with Skye when she remembered.

Skye and I hung around each other a lot. Two people who couldn't remember a single darn thing. She seemed to be struggling with remembering a lot harder than I did. I may have wondered and been confused, but Skye was tortured by the mere thought of something on the tip of her tongue.

She grew obsessed with knowledge. Skye ravenously wolfed down words from newspapers, documentaries, and magazines. Coulson tried to limit the knowledge she devoured, but Skye had ways of getting information. Friendly and outgoing, I soon realized that she wasn't being friendly; she was being sneaky and a little vicious.

Coulson seemed worried about Skye. He had mentioned something about her going insane even when they mind wiped her.

Was I going insane? Look, I know it seems a little self-centered, but I'm worried about myself. Was I going insane? Would I go insane? Where were my memories? Everyone cooed and talked constantly to Skye, trying to egg her on with finding her memories.

She was obsessed with calling me Sebastian, and insisted that her name was Stacy Smith. Her other obsession was the internet. She became so attached to it, she began to hack documents and other things that contained important information. One of these days, the internet was going to be her downfall.

It happened when we were sitting in the lab room together, she started panicking.

"What's wrong _now_, Stacy?" I growled. We might have hung around together, but we argued and bickered.

Skye put her arm out in front of her and said in a scared voice, "It's imprinted… it's right there!"

I raised an eyebrow and stared at her. I had been trying to fix my metal arm, and she had been peacefully reading a magazine. "What's right there?"

"Oh my… how can this be happening?!" Skye murmured. "It's the _internet_ right in front of me!"

"You've been drinking again, haven't you?" I said finally, trying to ignore Skye's weirdness.

"I swear I haven't—it's _right_ there!" Skye said in a panic. She placed her hands over her eyes. "I still see it!"

All the sudden she became very quiet.

I blinked and wondered if I had just been imagining everything.

Then she let out a shriek and fell to the floor. I quickly got up, knocking over wrenches and screwdrivers, and strode over to her. "What's the matter?" I said kneeling down next to her.

"Oh my—I-I was an orphan… Coulson… Hydra… Ward's a…" Her voice died away. Skye clawed at her eyes and clumsily stood only to fall against the desk, making the testing tubes tremble. "Get the image out of my head!" She began to rock back and forth, cradling herself as she sobbed.

I didn't know what to do. I was frozen to the spot. Crap. What the heck do I do with a crying woman?! Do I comfort her? Do I leave her alone? Do I just sit here? Do I count sheep until she's regain her self-control?

"I am Skye," She moaned to herself. "B-Bucky… I remember it all…" Skye turned her teary eyes at me. She cupped her hand over her mouth.

My lips moved, my mind began to work again, and I finally stammered, "Howco—how come _I _don't remember…?"

"I-I don't know…"

"Tell me," I demanded. It wasn't fair. I struggled so hard to find the answers; everyone knew the answers except me.

Skye roared angrily, "I said I _don't know_!" she banged her fist against the desk, making the liquid in the testing tubes swish a little.

I clinched my teeth and narrowed my eyes a little.

Skye paused from crying and said, "Ghost Network…"

Ghost… what? An image slowly began to form in my mind.

Before I got to say anything or really pay much attention to the image, the doors burst open. Coulson, Regard, Simmons, Fitz, and May came into the room.

"Simmons heard you scream and then alerted us," Coulson recapped quickly.

Simmons nodded seriously and went straight to Skye. "I knew I shouldn't have left you alone!" She said regrettably.

We had only been alone for a couple minutes before Skye began remembering.

Simmons put an arm around Skye, as Skye continued to have panic attacks. Simmons looked up at Coulson and said, "What are we going to do?"

Coulson's face was easy to read. He didn't know what to do. His lips were pressed together and his eyebrows were knitted tightly together. "We have to protect her from the truth," He hesitated.

May jumped in and said carefully, "Coulson, she already was going insane, even with the mind wipe."

Coulson looked at May and then at Skye. May laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's time you look at her like family. And not like an agent to another agent."

Coulson looked at Skye in the eyes and said, "Fine… Skye, come with me…"

For once Coulson looked a little frosty and stiff, as if he didn't know what to do or say.

I stopped Coulson. "You tell her, you tell me," I said firmly.

Coulson turned to look at me and looked completely torn.

"Bucky…" Skye whimpered quietly. "Bucky deserves to know. We've both been tortured, but Bucky has been tortured longer…"

Have I been tortured?

Fitz looked smartly at Skye and said, "You really do remember…"

Skye gave a weak smile, "I—uh guess I learn quickly."

Coulson was not smiling. He was frowning, his creases were deep. "May," Coulson stalled. "You've always followed the rules. You kept things hidden from me. Why this sudden change of attitude?"

May looked at Coulson and said dryly, "Because right now there are no rules. There is no S.H.I.E.L.D. and if you want to live, you've got to make sacrifices."

"The Hub, it's still standing. There are other bases that stand firm," Coulson protested.

"Hand is dead," Regard came into the fight. She was a little more gentler than May. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is giving up hope. Kids are scared of their fathers when they step in the doors of their homes. Many fathers come home, look into their wife's eyes and say they lost their job. S.H.I.E.L.D. is losing workers every day. America doesn't look at us as a shield anymore."

"Well? Did that ever accrue to you? Fathers going home to say he's lost his job and is buying time to find food? It's going to be hard finding jobs once we all lose our jobs. Nobody wants an X-agent who might be Hydra," May said crossing her arms and glaring her dark brown eyes at Coulson.

"We have Captain America. We have The Avengers. We're friends with an Asgardian demigod, we have Romanoff, the Hulk, Barton, Stark… what more could we ask for?" Coulson held out stubbornly.

"Stop holding onto the old soul, Phil," May snapped angrily. "We can't afford to hold onto it. Besides, doesn't it worry you that Hydra now has its weapons back? We had been collecting Hydra's weapons, only to know that Hydra was collecting it for itself."

"May, we'll discuss this later!" Coulson shouted angrily in a final tone.

Just then, Steve Rogers came into the room.

"Why have I been summoned here?" He asked looking around at the group.

"Skye remembers," Coulson said in short words. He pressed his lips together and jerked his head to where Skye was.

Steve looked at Skye and then at me. "Bucky… do you remember anything?"

I crossed my arms and growled, "I wish you guys could just _tell_ me what's going on, instead of keeping the secret away from me."

Steve sighed and said, "Bucky, it isn't that simple… if you… may I, Coulson?"

Coulson threw his hands up in the air and said despairingly, "Sure. There's no darn reason to keep secrets anymore."

Steve sucked in his breath and said, "Bucky… you've been around—"

Fitz broke in, "We don't have time for talk. What are we going to do with Skye?"

Skye's panic attack seemed to be increasing. She was breathing so fast, I thought she was going to hyperventilate.

Coulson glanced over at Skye and said, "Fitz's right. We need to do something about Skye. We have two choices. Send her to Tahiti or let her mentally decay."

May's eyes narrowed a little. Her lips were pressed tight. "I thought you didn't want to send her to Tahiti."

"I don't. It was pure torture. But what she's going through right now… that's worse," Coulson said, as he walked over to Skye and kneeled down to the floor.

Skye jerked her head around and she began to feverously moan.

"But Skye remembered it so fast. If we take away her memories, she'll find a way to gain them," Simmons interjected.

Coulson rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "But it will take her a longer time."

"You're both missing the point," May boomed. "She was going insane even when Hydra mind wiped her."

"But if we manage to actually take away her memories," Fitz said lowly.

Coulson laid a hand on Skye's back and murmured, "What I want to know is why she hasn't gone insane before the mind wipe…"

Skye gasped out, "B-Bucky… remember? Think of the Ghost Network. Think of the internet…"

Inter… net?

I didn't get very far. All the sudden an image of the internet flashed into my mind. I nearly screamed when I saw it. It was _right_ there. I held out a hand to see if I could touch it. I covered my eyes with my hand and tried to get the image out of my mind.

I felt someone laid their hand on my shoulder and I jumped. I realized it was Steve. "You okay, Bucky?" Steve asked cautiously.

_"__Simple. I want you to remember something."_

_"__I'll tell you more once we've gotten onto the mother bus." _

_"__Coulson, tell me now, or the deal is off."_

_ "__Tahiti."_

_"__You need me to remember… Tahiti?"_

_"__Precisely."_

"Remember?" Skye asked, wiping away tears from her face.

I put a hand over my mouth. "Holy…" the words died away and ran back down, burning my esophagus. I felt like I couldn't breathe.

_"__Coulson never told you?!" _

_"__Told me what?!"_

_"__He never told you why you're with us…?"_

_"__The gunfire is coming closer. If you want to live, follow me."_

_"__I have orders to keep you away from Hydra. He told me everything and I'll die before you're captured by Hydra."_

_"__Look, Simmons, that was a very nice speech and all, but I don't give a darn, and at the moment, our friends are in danger. So let me go or I'll leave no matter what. You are the most stubborn idiot I have ever met!"_

_We're protecting you for a reason! You're injected with GH325! If Hydra gets you again, they'll do anything to extract the GH325 from you! That's why you can't go out!"_

I collapsed to the floor and gawked at the words in front of me. Steve bent down to me and murmured, "Bucky… it's alright. Whatever you're seeing…"

_"__I don't really know. He asked me out that one night when he was trying to double date with Steve and Betty."_

_ "__Steve?"_

_ "__Didn't your granddad ever tell you about Steve Rogers? He's been in the newspaper!"_

_ "__S-Steve's alive?" _

I looked at Steve with huge eyes. Steve was a ghost from the past. He shouldn't be alive.

_"__SKYE! YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME!"_

_"__What am I going to do? Coulson… Fitz… Simmons…!" _

_"__Skye, if you listen to me, I think I can save our memories."_

_ "__Tell me!"_

_"__We can save our memories on the Ghost Network. We can make a file of our memories."_

_"__But we won't even remember that we have the Ghost Network!"_

_"__No we won't, but when we want the internet, it pops up on cue. If we book mark our place then it will pop up with the file. Please try it, Skye."_

I licked my lips. All the sudden, a flood of anger washed over me. Hydra. I trembled and glared at the floor. Tears. Tears were running down my face. The hot tears splashed onto the floor. I gritted my teeth. Hydra did this to me. What did Hydra want from me? They got everything they wanted from me. Surely they couldn't suck out more from me. They were leaches, hungry for power and blood.

I could believe what was going on. I glanced at Steve again. He was Captain America. He was my best pal way back then. He was still my best pal, wasn't he? Technically, we were both ghosts of the past. I should have been dead long ago and he should be dying. But here he was, looking young and healthy. Here I was, young at least, I don't know about healthy.

_"__Beside aren't you Hydra?"_

_"__Hydra? This isn't Hydra's base. We simply raided it. The Fridge is run by S.H.I.E.L.D.!"_

_"__But isn't the Fridge taken over by Hydra?" _

_"__I told you. We simply raided it and let loose prisoners.__Taking the 0-8-4 weapon, the Berserker Staff, the Gravitonium, and of course, some GH325. We did not take the Fridge over."_

_"__They said—they said that it was taken over by Hydra!"_

_"__The people who are trying to get at your friends aren't Hydra! They're S.H.I.E.L.D agents! But they think your friends are Hydra. That's why they're trying to get to them. And your friends think that the other agents are Hydra. Amusing, right?"_

_"__You're turning S.H.I.E.L.D. agents against S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?"_

More anger flared within me. I couldn't stop crying. The hot angry tears began to build up on the floor. I began to grind my teeth, ignoring the loud grinding scream.

I was a murderer. I couldn't believe I was a murderer. I remember reading books where the characters had no problem killing people. I wasn't a character. I was a killer. I began to hyperventilate a little.

I put a hand over my eyes and tried getting the images of blood and death out of my mind.

I swore aloud and said angrily, "Why can't I stop crying?!"

"Bucky," Steve said quietly. "It's okay to cry."

My nails dug into the floor as the tears continued to flow from my eyes.

I remember reading in Greek myths how Hercules had to kill the Hydra. He sliced off heads, but they kept growing back. Finally with fire and a big boulder, he killed the Hydra. He squished all the heads at once, and then burned the stump with fire, making sure the heads could never return.

If Hydra was going to play with fire, I was as sure as heck going to make sure they knew the consequences.


	7. Chapter 7

**Written by Tora**

* * *

**Chapter 7: May's prediction**

"Happy you remembered?" Skye ask, completely focused on the computer screen.

I looked up from an astronomy book that I was reading. It had been five hours since I remembered. "Why?" I said quietly.

What was so great about remembering that much at once? It was enough to make a grown man insane. Infact, I wondered how sane I was. Once I got over the crybaby attack, I thought I was fine. Am I fine? Am I sane? Probably not…

Skye took a pause from typing to look at me. "You remember everything. That should make you happy, right?"

I shrugged and looked down at my book, pretending that I was reading. But instead the words were just passing by, not really sinking into my brain.

Skye resumed clicking and ticking on the keyboard.

I remembered all that happened. Once I got my memory back, it was as if the clouds went away. I remembered everything. I was overwhelmed with the memories.

I final smacked my book shut and turned to Skye. "I thought Coulson died," I said. I had read on the internet everything about S.H.I.E.L.D. and about Coulson.

Skye paused, but her eyes never left the monitor. "Well," She started quietly. "I don't really know much about the details, but Fury sort of brought him back to life."

"Bet that was a shocker for the other Avengers," I said thoughtfully. I imagined Steve's shocked face to see Coulson a live.

"Actually," Skye said slowly. "Captain America is the only Avenger that knows about Coulson being alive. All the other Avengers think he's dead. Steve only just found out a week or two ago. He felt a little betrayed shall we say…"

"Betrayed?" I asked. "In what way?"

Skye popped her knuckles and said, "Fury made a sob story for Coulson's death to make the other Avengers feel guilty. He kinda aimed at Steve with those Captain America trading cards. I would be mad at Fury too, if I found out that Coulson was still alive and I had no clue about it."

I rubbed my chin and thought it over. "Was Steve close to Coulson?"

Skye smiled a little. "Nope," she snickered. "Not at all. That's why he felt super guilty later on."

I glanced at the computer screen and frowned a little. "What are you hacking this time?"

Skye turned back to the computer and said, "I'm not hacking anything. I'm simply getting us into Hydra…"

I took a sudden interest. I leaned forward and looked intently at the computer screen. "So what exactly are you doing?"

Skye went on typing and said smoothly, "I am making it look like we're Hydra agents. However, it's a lot harder to do, especially since Hydra is pretty much the archenemy of S.H.I.E.L.D. They have a lot of the same weapons as us. They're also in alliance with Cybertek. They aren't stupid."

I thought hard. "Wait a minute," I said looking intently at the screen. "We're going after the _other_ Hydra head. The _other _Hydra head most likely doesn't have an alliance with Cybertek."

Skye grinned at me and punched me lightly on the shoulder, "Nice thinking, Bucky."

I couldn't help but smile. Recently, I felt like a nuisance, not knowing what to do, being totally awkward and always being confused.

"Is it possible that Hydra is in alliance with someone else?" I asked curiously.

Skye thought about it hard. "Once I break passed the lines, then we'll see. I don't think Hydra is in alliance with anyone else."

"So… um, that internet thing in my mind…? Is it permanent?" I asked slowly.

Skye roared with laughter and threw her head back. She likewise leaned her chair on two feets. "Permanent?! Heck yeah!"

I glared at Skye. "That's for the assurance…" I mumbled crossly.

Skye spewed back, "Sorry!" She gently set her chair on its four legs. "I mean, Simmons might be able to take it out. I don't know how bad the process would be. I kind of enjoy having the internet with me all the time. I mean, some places there are no signals. By the way, Bucky," she hesitated.

"What?"

"That was good thinking. About the putting memories on the Ghost file," Skye said. "I would have never thought about it myself. I was too busy panicking."

I thought darkly about Hydra. They were going to pay for what they did to Coulson, Skye, and me. I was going to make sure their heads were all cut off and burned.

"So," I said slowly avoiding her thanks. "Why would Coulson want to keep T.A.H.I.T.I. a secret up until now?"

Skye turned to me and said, "Coulson told me about it a long time ago. And then once we found out about Hydra, and once it brought down S.H.I.E.L.D. he realized it was time to tell the rest of the group about it."

I thought about what she said.

"Okay, this is going to take some time to sink. Let's meet up with the others for some chow," Skye said, standing up and stretching.

* * *

Tonight's choice of dinner was on Coulson since he was paying. He had this policy was whoever pays for dinner gets to choose were to eat.

Coulson enjoyed choosing something he liked, as well as choosing something cheap. Cheap food equals low quality food…

So we crowded around a small table at Panda Express, eating warmish meat with lukewarm noodles and warm sweet and sour soup. To be honest, Chinese food wasn't my favourite. Panda Express, let's not talk about it. Actually, let's do talk about Panda Express. Maybe someone will sympathize with me.

They barely give you enough food, all the food has this weird warmth, the noodles are all scraggly and limp, their meat isn't all that fresh, their veggies rubbery, and oh by the way, their jello tastes like rubber.

I might have gotten to choose what was on my plate, but I still picked at it, with not much enjoyment.

"No no, Fitz," Simmons said, looking at Fitz. "You don't stab your meat. See how Skye's eating her food?"

Fitz sighed in frustration and snapped, "Can we please get forks?"

Coulson shook his head and smiled blankly at Fitz, "Nope. Skye dared us to eat with chopsticks only. I kind of like it. When you're an international spy, you've got to learn how to eat differently, Fitz."

I myself could barely use chopsticks. I slurped down my lukewarm slimy noodles that had been drenched in some kind of mysterious sauce.

Fitz pounded on my back, which made me choke on the noodles and drop my chopsticks. "See, Bucky? Chopsticks are hard to use."

I growled. I had just gotten to where I could use my chopsticks. Now I was going to have to reposition them perfectly so I could use the stupid things.

Fitz continued to stab his meat.

I turned away in disgust as Fitz pounced on his food, and then popped the stabbed shrimp into his mouth.

Steve seemed perfectly fine about eating with chopsticks.

I rolled my eyes. I hated chopsticks and I hated Panda Express.

"I'm going to have to head back early," Skye said glancing at her watch. "I've got something that's waiting for me."

Coulson looked up from his food and said, "What are you waiting on?"

Skye took out a phone and said, "Ah, it's complete. We're getting into Hydra, remember?"

Coulson leaned over and looked at Skye's phone. "Interesting… can't you access it from here? I thought we were going to go out for ice cream."

"Well, I might be able to access it from here. Just give me a minute," Skye mused.

Coulson laughed and said, "We're in the middle of dinner. We're giving you plenty of time."

Skye didn't answer back; she was too busy working on the hacking.

I continued to pick at my food. Ice cream sounded really nice compared to this compost.

I let out a sigh of annoyance. "So when can we get ice cream?" I asked sarcastically.

"How about later in the night. So that way we don't scare away the children," Simmons piped up.

"We've got Captain America," Coulson said pleasantly.

Skye snickered. "He'll be our shield," Skye said, half listening to the conversation, half not. Suddenly Skye's face went serious. "Oh my gosh… that can't be…" she murmured quietly.

We all looked up from eating.

"What is it?" Simmons asked turning to Skye.

Skye put a hand to her mouth. "No, give me more time. Oh please… don't let this be true…"

Coulson turned in sudden alarm to Skye. "Tell us, now, Skye."

Skye looked like she was going to throw up. She looked around hastily on impulse and then leaned in close. "The other Hydra head may not be in alliance with Cybertek, but it's in alliance with another group."

"Oh?" Steve asked, he laid his chopsticks down and laced his fingers.

"I need to confirm it's true or not first. I don't know if it is or not," Skye said in a quick hushed voice. "This Hydra is buying stuff from GHOST."

"GHOST…" Fitz said slowly, the meat from his chopsticks falling onto his plate, making juice fly everywhere.

Skye hissed back madly, "GHOST runs the Ghost Network. The people at the Fridge, they were Hydra. They're the other Hydra. GHOST is basically a company that no one knows about, hence the name GHOST. They've been selling Hydra the Ghost Network."

I rubbed my chin and blurted out before I could stop, "But Raina said that they were turning S.H.I.E.L.D. agents against S.H.I.E.L.D. agents."

Oh… _CRAP_!

Everyone turned to me.

"Raina," Coulson said in a dry voice.

"You met…" the words died away on Skye's lips.

"When…?" Fitz blurted indignantly.

"Oh my goodness… she found you?" Murmured Simmons.

"Who's Raina?" Steve said calmly, as he took a swig of water.

All the sudden, I became very interested in my slimy noodles. Was that a mushroom? I picked at it and quickly stuffed it into my mouth. The rubbery mushroom gnashing against my teeth, as I attempted to grin at my companions. It tasted terrible, but I continued to chew at it, taking more interest in the water droplets coming down my cup.

"Bucky," Coulson said in a low voice, but easy voice. "What are you not sharing with us?"

Oh look, sunrays.

"Bucky…" Simmons said in a whisper. "Is that why you took forever to get us?"

Oh look, more slimy noodles.

"Is that how you got the microchip?" Skye asked in a hushed worried voice.

Oh look, my cup full of water.

Fitz pointed his chopsticks at me and said, "What about the strychnine?"

Oh look—

"Bucky…" Steve said finally. "What are you not telling us?"

I nervously fiddled with my chopsticks. There was no way out of this. Thankfully Coulson came to my rescue. "Here's not a good place to talk about stuff like that. How about we wait to talk about it back at HQ," Coulson said smiling a dry smile at me that was completely full of curiosity.

I let out a puff of air and quickly shoved some meat drenched in orange goo and sesame seeds into my mouth.

* * *

I got the phone call before we had left Panda Express.

Of all the times to talk to me. When I look back at the call, I realized how stereotypical the whole setup was. Strange dude got a hold of my phone number and was giving me threats. But I also realized how disturbingly calm and completely normal sounding the speaker was.

"Is this Bucky Barnes?" the speaker asked. He wasn't husky, deep, or scary sounding. He just sounded like a normal guy.

I raised my eyebrow. "Um…"

Normally people didn't call me and say: Hi are you Bucky Barnes? The dude Winter Soldier dude? Steve's best friend? Normally people got the wrong number. Normally. When was my life ever 'normal'?

"So," the speaker said, as if he was if he was going to suggest we go to the bar. "I'm aware that Skye's 'codename' is Smith."

What? How the—Coulson had Skye under a codename for a reason. Who was this guy?

"Smith…" I said slowly.

"There are consequences for giving away your real name," He recapped simply, as if he was talking about the weather.

I licked my lips. "And… why aren't you taking this up with Agent Smith?"

"Well seeing as you're her friend, you'll be the most concerned. Yes—I know, don't tell me that they aren't really your friends, because that's be a straight out lie, Barnes," Tutted the man. "Listen closely, Barnes. I'm going to find Smith and kill her. She won't have time to scream. I think I'm going to teach her why you don't give out names. Because—what she did, gave me access to the rest of the crew. Leo Fitz—dead. Jemma Simmons—dead. Grant Ward—dead—"

"Grant Ward isn't a part of our team," I snapped.

The way he was talking was frightening. He was giving out threats and making it sound like he was going to accomplish them. My big disapproval with bad guys in movies is they go on about how they are going to kill someone and threat and threat and threat, but they never kill people off. This man was just talking like a normal guy. _A normal guy_. He didn't have a braggish voice or a superior voice. And that's _not_ scary?

"I don't care. I'm going to kill him anyway," He said patiently. "They're all going to die. Without a scream."

"I won't let you," I stuttered, trying to sound brave, but those were the only words that I could say.

The man was silent on the other side. "You aren't going to be able to do a single thing."

I tried returning the treat. "Listen to me, you crazy freak, I'm going to track your number down, and rip your head from your shoulders. Then I'm going to rip the rest of Hydra's head off and burn—"

"Hydra? Who the heck says I'm Hydra?" He asked truly baffled. "If you can hunt down this Ghost-Caller, good luck."

He didn't wait for me to finish. He hung up.

I stood there. The phone still pressed against my ear.

"Are you coming?" May asked.

I nodded. I couldn't say a single thing.

* * *

We gathered around the lab table eating ice cream.

Eating ice cream in the lab was not my ideal place to eat ice cream. I was thinking more like eating it outside in the warmth while laughing and chit chatting. This was eating ice cream while having this super-secret meeting. Weird right? You don't get much sillier than that.

"I've always liked banana ice cream," Coulson said calmly licking the cone. It was a little strange seeing him, in a suit and all, licking ice cream. "Despite what people say about artificial banana flavour."

"Raina isn't working for Hydra," Skye said seriously.

We were getting down to business… while licking our ice cream.

Fitz scratched his tight curly hair and said, "I thought Raina was working for Hydra…"

Simmons nodded and pointed her ice cream cone at Fitz. "Fitz is right. Raina is working for Hydra."

Fitz pushed away Simmons's cone before some of the sticky chocolate mousse got onto his clothes.

Skye waved a hand aside and said, "Well, I mean—Raina has no alliance with Hydra. And as far as I know, she has no clue what Ghost is."

Steve paused from licking his ice cream and said, "Is anyone going to explain what's going on?"

May was the only one who wasn't eating ice cream. Her fingers were lanced together and she looked at one speaker to the other. "Rogers, you already know what a Hydra is and you've fought them twice. But there's been another Hydra all along. It's been hiding in the shadows."

Steve rubbed his chin with a free hand and said, "And they had no connections with the Hydra I fought?"

May nodded. "Correct."

Skye mused quietly, "I will soon have badges for this Hydra base. We might be able to get in."

Fitz chomped down on the cone and said spewing crumbs, "And that's your brilliant plan? Do we even know where this Hydra base is?"

Skye's face slackened a little. "Well," she hesitated. "I'm working on that, thank you very much."

She held up a tablet and smiled a little. She took all her focus off the ice cream and onto the tablet.

Coulson listened into his ear operator and said, "I'll be back. They need me up."

"Need me to hold your cone?" Simmons asked kindly.

Coulson looked at his cone, took several quick licks, and then handed the cone to Simmons.

"I'll be down in a few minutes or so. Don't eat my ice cream," Coulson said, hurriedly walking out of the room.

"So, Bucky," Fitz said at last. "When did you talk to Raina?"

There was no escape. I told them. Everything that I could remember. Everything that I did remembered. Everything that was in my microchip brain. However, I didn't tell them about my caller. I didn't know what to do about that. I was completely helpless.

I told them everything that Raina had said to me.

When I was done, everyone's eyes were on me.

"Do you know anything about Ward?" Fitz said quietly.

Skye slammed her fist down on the lab table and snapped, "Fitz, Ward is a flipping Nazi from the twenty first century. When is it going to hit you that he's practically Hitler's best friend?!"

Fitz reeled back a little, his face a mixture of confusion and sadness. "Hitler is dead," The words slipped from Fitz's lips.

"Bucky," Simmons said quietly, ignoring Fitz. "We're your friends… we really are…"

"Coulson would never use you for himself," Skye said comfortingly. "He wants you to be safe."

Simmons gasped and suddenly put a hand over her mouth. "Oh no," She murmured quietly. "We took out most of the GH325 from Bucky, right? All of those vials containing strychnine and GH325. What do you think we should do with them?"

Fitz nodded and said, "Good point. What should we do with them?"

"Throw them away?" Skye said simply, as if that was a no duh question.

Fitz and Simmons gave Skye a frown. "It's not that simply," They both said in unison.

Skye held up her hands and said, "Whatever… I'll let you geeks deal with it."

"So, um… this Ghost thing…" I said slowly. I didn't have time to finish.

Coulson came into the room. He had a serious face. His lines in his face were deep and he looked depressed.

"Coulson, we have a question…" the words died away on Simmons lips when she saw his expression.

"Guys," Coulson said quietly. "Please don't panic…" He looked like he was going to cry at any moment. He swallowed as everyone stared at him.

"What's wrong, Coulson?" Simmons asked quietly.

We all felt the sad aura around the room and were completely silent.

"It's like how May predicted," Coulson said, choking down a sob. "Fitz, Simmons, and Skye… listen to me carefully… every day… agents are losing their jobs. They're not fired… but we have to lay them off. It's not like we don't like you. It's the fact that we can't afford to pay you guys anymore."

Fitz's mouth opened ever so slightly. "You aren't saying—"

Coulson didn't look at anyone in the eyes. "I'm sorry—you have the rest of the week to clear out."

Words shot into my mind like fireworks. _They're all going to die. Without a scream._

Who was separating us?


	8. Chapter 8

**Written by Tora**

* * *

_Before you read, I'd like to apologies that this chapter hasn't been text corrected. If you find typos, lost words in parts, a word out of place, a word misspelled, I'm sorry. I didn't have time to text correct!_

* * *

**Chapter 8 S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Last Stand is No More**

"Coulson! No!" Skye shouted indignantly. "We can't leave!"

Coulson looked down and traced his fingers along the table. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," He apologized again and again.

"What about me?" I piped up.

Coulson rubbed the back of his neck and said, "You're going to have to say here. S.H.I.E.L.D. has to protect you."

I glanced at Simmons, who looked like she had been punched in the stomach. "You mean…" Simmons said quietly. "S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to keep an eye on Bucky…"

Too true, I couldn't have said it better myself…

Fitz blurted out, "But we're of help! Didn't you try and talk to them?"

Coulson didn't say anything.

"Y-you _knew_ S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to kick us out?!" Skye roared angrily. She roughly put the tablet down on the counter and put her hands on her hips. A loud swear word slipped from her angry lips.

I wasn't going to let some random dude hunt down my friends. "Sir, if I may jump in… I think someone is trying to separate us."

"Exactly," Fitz said, bobbing his head up and down vigorously. Then he paused. "Wait—what?!"

"I t-think someone is trying to separate us," I stuttered back.

"No no no no!" Skye snapped angrily. She put her hands on her hips and walked over to me. "The world doesn't work like that. You can't just decide someone is trying to separate us."

I sheepishly pulled out my phone. "Someone gave me a threat," I mumbled.

"Speak up, son, I'm getting old," Coulson said.

It was no good hiding it. Besides, hiding things never ended up well. When would books learn that?

"I got a threat call," I finally said aloud. The words were heavy on my tongue, and I had difficultly spitting them out.

Everyone was silent. I could feel the tension in the air, the whole atmosphere waiting to explode.

Then it did explode.

"A threat call," From Fitz.

"Was it from Rania?" Said the worried Simmons.

"We can trace it," Skye said, who took my phone out of my hand.

"Why would Bucky get a threat call?" From Steve.

"Good question," From Coulson, who had taken the ice cream cone back from Simmons.

"The goose chase begins…" May mumbled.

I tried snatching the phone back from Skye, but Skye held it away from me.

"Hold on, Sebastian," Skye mused, while looking at my collection of pictures on how to run a computer.

I agitatedly ran my fingers through my hair and hissed, "Don't call me Sebastian!"

Steve snorted with laughter. "_Sebastian_?! Why the heck would she be calling _you_ Sebastian? Some pet name?"

I turned my glare to Steve and said, "Not helping, Steve!" Then I turned to Skye, who was still looking at my pictures and said in dismay, "You aren't even tracking down the caller!"

A grin slipped across her face. "Why do you have a selfie of me and you?"

"What?" I snapped, leaning over Skye to glare intently at the picture. I rolled my eyes and said, "Skye, you took that picture _yourself_! If I recall, I was trying to _read a book_ when you took that."

"Right right right, I remember," Skye said, getting out of the photo app. "Though, I notice you kept the picture."

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," Skye said quickly. "Focus now…"

I turned away from Skye. What were we going to do? If we could come up with evidence that someone was trying to separate us, would they decide not to separate us? Was someone at the Hub the one that was trying to separate us?

So many ideas floated in and out in my head in the space of a couple minutes.

"Okay," Skye said finally. "I can't track him down. Whoever called Bucky did one heckuva job at hiding his tracks. It's going to be really hard to find a single trace or clue."

"Is it possible that he's apart of GHOST?" Steve asked curiously.

I thought it over. "That would make sense why he called himself a Ghost-Caller," I said thinking aloud.

Skye swore and said, "What day is today?"

"Friday," May said shortly.

Skye bit her lip and glanced down at her watch. "Coulson can you stall for time?"

Coulson thought hard. "I don't know how much time I can stall for. You only have tomorrow."

Right right right, for S.H.I.E.L.D. the beginning of the week was Sunday. Usually, for business people, the beginning of the week was Monday.

"Oh crap," Skye snapped angrily. "So you can't get any time?"

Coulson shook his head. He tossed away his forgotten ice cream into the trash. There was no dry smile on his face. There was no dry humor. This was serious stuff now.

Coulson said in a loud voice to get everyone's attention, "Okay listen up! I didn't know that they were going to kick you out. I had a small hunch, agents are leaving every day."

Steve jumped in, "America was so willing for a protector, that they didn't mind huge guns and explosives to protect themselves with. Now America is scared of their shield. America runs on lies."

There was silence all throughout the room. What were we going to do? Rooms that were white with a slight tint of tan always made me feel nauseous. I could feel the white walls laughing at our troublesome group. Why did people paint rooms that colour?

"Listen," Coulson said finally. "I can't stop people from pushing you out of the building. But we need to stay in touch, no matter what. Does everyone have a home to go back to?"

"Fitz and I are splitting the rent in an apartment down town…" Simmons said quietly.

Coulson looked at Skye. "Skye, do you have anywhere to go?"

Skye had a dark look on her face. "I don't know," She said shortly.

There was another silence.

"Well…" Simmons said quietly. "Skye can come stay with us. She can sleep in my room."

Skye didn't look thrilled about sleeping on the floor with spiders and other creepy crawlies. "I-I'll manage on my own, thanks," She said darkly. A shadow seemed to come across her face. I wondered if bitter memories were floating into her mind. She was an orphan. "Darn, I miss my old van…" she mumbled to herself.

* * *

So. That was it. The last standing team of S.H.I.E.L.D. was broken.

Fitz and Simmons went back to their old apartment. Who know what they were doing. Finding new jobs? It was going to be hard finding new jobs. Really hard.

I don't know what Skye was doing with her life. Was she giving up everything? I didn't have any way of contacting her. I wish I had asked for her phone number just in case.

We knew someone was separating us, but we couldn't do anything about it. I knew S.H.I.E.L.D. kept in touch with each of the old agents, but they were stingy about information. And of course they weren't just about to let the Winter Soldier have vital information, now where they? We informed the rest of S.H.I. . that we were being hunted and they claimed that they'd watch everyone.

Steve and I had to stick around S.H.I.E.L.D. for obvious reasons. I itched to make a new life for myself. I know it sounds silly, but I really just want to be left alone. I'm sick of blood tests and everyone poking at my arm. I just want to live in an apartment and be a normal guy. But I can't. I'll never be a normal guy. With a job. With a girl. With a normal life. I have to accept my new life, which is far from normal.

I'm an introvert. When I'm with all these agents, I just want to shrink away. I have no privacy. What little privacy I have, the agents talk it out of me. On days when I just want to read about history or astronomy, I'm called out for important reasons.

I really really wish I could live out of the Hub. It wasn't fair that everyone else got to leave. I never dreamed that I'd miss the old shack with electricity and a hayloft for a bed.

Coulson said that bigger agents were now starting to lose their jobs. It was a gamble of who was going to stay. Tension was built up in the Hub. May had once said that the Hub was one of the last standing S.H.I.E.L.D. bases, but now it was crumbling. S.H.I.E.L.D. was on a thin sheet of ice, and the ice was already cracking. It's a matter of seconds before the sheet of ice breaks.

It wasn't until today that I learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. had broken the ice.

Steve and I were sharing rooms. You'd think since everyone was moving out that we'd get our own rooms. But nooo, they thought the Winter Soldier might go into a hysterical rampage so therefore, the Winter Soldier's childhood friend had to be with him to keep him from going wild.

"Steve," I said, giving up on trying to fix my arm. It seemed that only Fitz and Simmons knew how to fix it.

Steve looked up from sorting his clothes. "Yeah?"

I hesitated then said, "Have you ever wanted to protect something you loved but couldn't protect it?"

"Thinking about Fitz, Simmons, and Skye?" He asked patiently.

I nodded. "Yeah…" I said a little dryly. My throat had gone tight and I felt like I was being forced to swallow sand. My throat felt that way a lot when I thought about Fitz and Simmons and Skye. Fitz and Simmons had each other. But who did Skye have?

Steve paused from sorting the clothes and said, "Yeah. I lost several important people who were dear to me. One of them forgets me every day I see her. It breaks my heart every time. The other… I don't know what he's thinking, other than the fact that he misses his friends."

I sat backwards in the chair and rested my chin on my hands. It didn't process that he was talking about me.

"You know something, Steve?" I said, more or less ignoring what he was talking about. "When I first met S.H.I.E.L.D. I didn't trust them. I forced myself to believe that I was only pretending to be their friends. And once I had what I needed, I could leave. It's not as easy as I thought it would be."

A small sad smile slipped on Steve's face. "It never is. Life is never easy. Freedom isn't easy. Friendship isn't easy. You can't leave a friendship no matter how much you try. People think hate breaks friendship. But hate is one of the strongest emotions. You're still feeling something for that person, even if you hate them. You'll be surprised that hate can backfire and end up backstabbing you."

"Hitler… he hated," I pointed out. I wasn't quite sure if he meant that hate could backstab you and turn your hate into love, or if it backfired and would eat you up.

The muscles in Steve's neck tensed up at the man's name. "Hitler," he said slowly. "Was evil." Was all he said.

"You know… it's really hard," I said. "It's hard to know what is right and wrong in the world. Movies… you never know what's right and what's wrong. I don't know if I'm right or wrong. I thought I was right and it turned out I was wrong. Then I'm trying to be right, but I don't know if I'm being right. What if I'm just being wrong."

"Take a look at S.H.I.E.L.D., Bucky. S.H.I.E.L.D., everyone thought, was in the right. They watched over the world. They were with the government. But the government is slowly decaying. Bucky, is S.H.I.E.L.D. in the right or wrongs?" Steve asked seriously to me.

I didn't know. I honestly didn't know.

"Everyone thinks you're a great person. You beat up the bad guys and are the hero," I said, my mind simply spitting out words that I hadn't processed yet.

To my shock, Steve lashed back, "You think beating up the bad guys makes you a better person? Well you're wrong. I stop people who are trying to hurt innocent people, I don't 'beat up' people for the heck of it. I have no alliance with S.H.I.E.L.D. because for a long time, they've been in the wrong and all of America has been fooled."

I lanced my fingers together and thought hard of what Steve said. Was he being an anti-government person at the moment or did he have a point?

"Why do you hang around here?" I asked simply.

"It's like what you said. It's not as easy to leave as you think. I have friends here," Steve said turning to me.

Wait—so here Steve was, ranting on about how S.H.I.E.L.D. was in the wrong, then he was saying he couldn't leave because he had friends here? Why was my head spinning? Why couldn't anyone just give me simple answers?

I decided that I needed to talk to Coulson and see what his opinions on the whole thing were.

* * *

"Wrongs? Barnes, I was fooled like every other agent that S.H.I.E.L.D. was the best place to work at," May said, catching my uneasiness.

I didn't end up talking to Coulson. I go to talk to May instead. I had went to Coulson's office only to find May at Coulson's computer.

May told me that Coulson had to leave for business.

I blinked. "What do you mean you were fooled?" How could _May_ be fooled?

May stared at me with her intense brown eyes. "Everyone wanted to be an agent at S.H.I.E.L.D.. S.H.I.E.L.D. may be the protector, but it's also a network of secrets. When you have smart men and women working with all the technology they ever wanted, they get greedy and a new species is slowly bred. S.H.I.E.L.D. is a parasite, Barnes."

I had never heard it like this before. I knew S.H.I.E.L.D. had secrets, but I had never heard it to be a parasitic thing.

"Men with power and strength only want more power," May went on smoothly and coldly. "The golden age of S.H.I.E.L.D. was the best time for the parasite to gnaw away at us. At the moment, we're dealing with the aftermath of the parasite."

I didn't understand. America was fooled by S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were fooled by… S.H.I.E.L.D.?

I finally turned my attention on May. Why was she on the computer?

"What are you doing on Coulson's computer?" I finally asked.

May glanced up and said, "Finding Skye."

I raised my eyebrow. "F-finding… is she alright?"

May's eyes narrowed. "She's missing."

The words rang in my ears. Skye was missing. Skye was missing.

I quickly darted over to the computer to see if May had found any clues. May seemed disgusted at my hastiness, but didn't seem too stingy with me looking over her shoulder.

"Coulson went to find Skye. He asked for contacting information—" May started, but then I broke in. "Coulson couldn't contact her? He's Level 8!"

May snapped back, "I know. Despite his rank, they're hiding stuff from him. We're back in a circle. We can't trust each other."

"I thought you never could!"

May pressed her lips tight together and said, "That was outside the Hub. Now we can't trust other Hub members."

"I don't understand why there's so little trust here. I thought you were an organization," I said. I didn't understand why the closest of friends couldn't trust each other.

I could tell that I was reaching my limits. May's eyes were slit and she glared at me.

"I don't have time to answer every one of your questions, Barnes," May said, turning back to the computer.

I glanced at the computer. "Fitz and Simmons…" I sad slowly.

"We've already contacted them. They are on their way here. Interesting," May mused softly to herself.

I studied the computer.

"We don't have Skye's last name. It's harder to track her, but it appears there are two Skye's in the area," May said, pointing to the map.

Then May managed to pop up two pictures of the Skye's. They were the same.

"What kind of map are you using? Google maps?" I asked curiously.

May glanced at me. "S.H.I.E.L.D. maps."

Ah. That would explain how she got the pictures. I shivered to think how S.H.I.E.L.D. got everyone's picture. I wondered if they had Bucky Barnes.

"So," May said pushing away the computer. "There are two Skye's with the exact same face and profile."

"That can't be," I mumbled.

May's mouth twitched ever so slightly. "Exactly. One of them is a fake profile. Here's my theory. It's a hard gamble for our enemy. If we hit the right one, they lose. We get back Skye. But if we get the decoy, they escape with Skye."

Sounded right to me. "Got a plan?"

May nodded. She pulled up the computer and began to wildly punch buttons on the keyboard. While speed typing she said aloud, "I'm telling Coulson the problem. I'm giving him one direction to follow. And I'll be giving you the other direction. That way we win no matter what."

I smiled. I rubbed my hands and said, "When do I go?"

"Once I give you the directions," May said. "I'll send reinforcements soon after you leave."

* * *

I didn't recognize this part of New York. It was kind of dumpy.

Either I'd go into the house and find Skye, or I'd go into the house and find nothing. But what if Skye had already been taken away? Skye was missing. Was she captured? We had kind of assumed she was captured.

What if Skye was at home? What was I going to find?

A million crazy and scary ideas floated into my mind. My throat was tight and my heart was racing. I shivered as a cold sweat hit me.

Kids were peacefully playing kickball. What I'd give to be normal or to start my life over again.

I looked at the slip of paper. I just needed to round the corner.

"Hey, mister!" Said one of the boys playing kickball.

I turned to look at a boy with wispy blonde hair. "Yes?" I said, lowering my cap low.

"Are you sure you want to go in there?" The boy asked. He seemed to know where I was head…

I frowned. "Yes…"

The boys looked at each other. I heard one of the other boys say, "Maybe he's with them…"

With them? That was when I broke out into a run. I had to get to the house. NOW. Before time runs out.

"Mister?!" The boy called again.

I couldn't wait. Before I knew it, I had broken through the door with my metal arm. I had to use my metal arm to my advantage. That's what I always told myself.

I coughed and brushed off the dust and blinked. "Skye!" I shouted. I quickly looked at my surrounding.

Suddenly I felt pain. In my side. I looked down. I felt woozy… and…

Crap. Why the heck was it always the night night gun? Ah, they always wanted me alive. I was some kind of animal that had to be shot with the night night gun.

I was tethered to a chair. Something in my left arm made it impossible for me to move it. The chains around me were big and metal.

Skye was in front of me. She was likewise tied with chains to the chair. She had no gag over her mouth. She just looked at me with scared eyes. There was blood around her mouth.

"Skye, are you alright?" I said frantically. "They hurt you. What did they do?"

Skye looked like she was trying to throw up but couldn't. She was crying, but I couldn't hear a single sob.

"Skye," Said a normal voice, which sent shivers down my back. "So…"

I looked behind me. A skinny man with red hairs and freckles was looking at me with brown eyes. He looked kinda nerdy. But I recognized that voice. He was the Ghost-Caller.

"Do you want something from me?" I snapped angrily.

The man shrugged. "I'm Richard Cultwald the second."

"Is that supposed to be something big?" I said sarcastically.

I turned my head back at Skye. She opened her mouth and then snapped it shut. "What did you do with Skye?" I asked in a dangerously low voice. I turned my gaze at Richard.

Richard shrugged again. He looked really squirrely. "Does it matter to you?"

I stomped my foot and barked angrily, "What did you do to Skye?!"

Richard gazed at me with cold unblinking eyes. "Umm… I thought I told you what I was going to do to her?"

I frowned.

Richard twiddled his thumbs and said simply, "Didn't I tell you I was going to kill her?"

My blood turned cold. I knew that he was threatening it. He was just threatening… he wouldn't actually kill her.

Then he said as if he were talking about groceries, "I put an explosive down her throat, any minute now and it will explode. And you will watch the blood pour out of her neck."

My lip trembled. "What do you want me for?"

The man walked over between Skye and me. "I want you… to beg for her life. No… I want you to _grovel _for her life."

"Excuse me?" I said slowly, glaring at him.

Richard gave a sharp nod and said, "You heard me right."

I looked at Richard intently. "If you hurt Skye—"

"You'll what? Hurt me back?" Richard asked innocently. "Okay, so I might have lied to you. I do want something…"

I rolled my eyes. Of course he wanted something. "Whatever you want, I'm not giving it to you."

Richard's eyebrow twitched upwards. Then he took a couple strides towards Skye and picked up her left hand in his.

"Don't touch Skye," I growled menacingly.

Richard ignored me. He took a gun from his pocket and before I could shout, he shot her hand. More tears poured from Skye's face, no screams of anguish came from her mouth. Blood was sinking into the carpet.

I opened my mouth to say something, but found I couldn't. Finally I found words to say. "Don't shoot her!" I yelled.

Richard said in a low voice, "I want you to tell me where you found the GH325."

Where we found the… how the heck was I supposed to know?! "I-I don't know…" I stuttered out.

Richard grabbed Skye's other hand. Skye tried to frantically tug it out of Richard's grasp. "You're lying."

He pointed the gun at her hand. "Don't shoot! Or I swear to—"

BANG!

Skye's eyes were held tightly closed. She was in so much pain. Her legs were moving uncontrollably. What should I do? Give out a fake location?

I gritted my teeth. The stench of blood was making me sick. I found that tears were coming down my eyes.

"You can't do a single thing," Richard said in a low voice.

"You son—"

"You tell me where the stuff is or I'll shoot her foot next," Barked Richard.

I raised my voice, "I told you! I don't know where the stuff is!"

There was fire in Richard's eyes. He pointed the gun at Skye's left foot.

"Don't you dare shoot—"

"I said tell me—"

"_I don't know_!"

"You want to save her?!"

"Don't shoot! Shoot me!"

BANG!

Skye looked like she was going to faint. Richard grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled upwards.

A swear word slipped from my lips as I shouted, "Why won't you shoot at me?!"

Richard pointed his gun at her other foot. "All you have to do is _tell_ me, Barnes…"

I was getting so frustrated I banged my chair that I was tied to up and down. "_How many flipping times do I have to say?!_"

"Do you want your friend to live?!" Richard screamed angrily. He was shouting so hard spit flung into the air.

There was another defining BANG.

"Holy…" the words died on my lips as I realized that Skye wouldn't be able to walk or use her hands for a very long time.

This time, Skye did faint. She was losing so much blood.

Then he said quietly, "The next thing that will go is her neck…"

"_Don't you dare_—"

"Tell me… where did you get the GH325?"

I bit my lip so hard I could taste blood. "I don't know!" I screamed for the thousandth time. Why did he think I was lying?!

Richard gazed at me with cold eyes. He put up his gun. Then he said through his ear piece, "Gennifer, this is Ghost-Caller, please start Operation Bluejay on Project 2-0-7. Thanks."

Richard took his eyes off me. "There is something else I want from you."

I glared at him.

"I want your metal arm."

"Then have it. Just don't kill Skye."

"That's not part of the deal."

"Then you can't have the arm."

"I think I'll take it whether you want me to have it or not," Richard tutted calmly. He almost had this sort of amused way of talking. "The deal was you tell me where the GH325 is and then I save Skye."

I was desperate. "Fine I'll tell you…"

Richard leaned against a table and gave me a gentle smirk. "It's already too late, Barnes. I don't know… within another minute her neck will explode."

The words sank into my brain then I shouted, "Don't!"

"I'm sorry, but it's too late."

"I'll give you my arm, I'll give you my life, just don't—"

"I'm taking your arm. As for your life, you're going to live it with no friends."

"Please—let me do something!"

"Barnes, all you can do for me is watch," Richard said. He glanced at Skye. She was still in her faint.

What happened next made me want to die on the spot.

Her neck exploded.

I was splashed with the blood.

It was all a mixture of me screaming and yelling and swearing. Tears streamed down my face. I couldn't do a single thing.

The threatened that I didn't think would ever happen—came true. She died. Without a scream.

Skye…

I tore my eyes away from the gruesome neck.

Then Richard pulled out a night night gun and shot me.

I don't know how long I was gone. But my head hurt. I hated that feeling after someone shoots me with a night night gun. I felt like I had a hangover.

I was on the floor. I tried moving, but couldn't feel anything in my left arm. Finally I hoisted up my body with my right arm.

I looked around. My left arm was missing. Skye's body was on the floor next to me. A towel was wrapped around her neck. The towel was drenched in red.

I needed to leave. I needed to find help.

I threw up once. Or maybe twice. Or thrice. Finally I managed to hook my right arm around Skye's waist and haul her up. I nearly fell from exhaustion. My head was spinning and I thought I was going to blackout again.

I took my first baby step. This was going to be a long walk back home… a very long and lonely walk…

* * *

Skye's body was limp and hard to drag down the streets. I was glad there were no kids playing kickball to see her like this.

Her feet were dragging on the ground, but I couldn't support her properly.

I blinked back sweat. How much longer was I could to have to walk like this? Another mile or so?

Stupid stupid stupid me. I finally remembered that I had a phone. I had never had a mobile phone before, so the whole concept of having a phone in your pocket was a little new. I mean—I had seen people with them, but I never had one up until a couple months ago.

I laid down Skye's body and fished for my phone. Then I quickly dialed Coulson's number.

I only had to wait briefly before I heard the familiar dry voice of Coulson's. "This is Phil Coulson."

"Coulson," I sputtered.

"Bucky?" Coulson replied back.

I breathed hard. "Skye's dead…"

There was silence on the other line. "Where are you?"

"I-I don't know… May knows…" I panted. "Someone murdered Skye…"

Coulson managed a swear word and said, "That can't be…"

"It is…" I confirmed. "I have her body with me right now."

I could hear Coulson breathing. "_Are you sure_?" He said slowly.

Why didn't he trust me? "Yes… Richard shot her hands and feet before detonating the neck…"

"_Detonating_?" Coulson asked in a shocked manner.

"He blew up her neck," I explained impenitently. I swore aloud and said, "Aren't you going to come get me?"

More silence on the other line. I closed my eyes and waited for his reply… what was taking him so long? How long did it have to process in his brain that she was truly dead? Finally, he said calmly, "I don't believe she's dead."

I wanted to say, tough luck, you have to believe it, but I said, "And why don't you?"

The sun was gone, but I felt hot and warm. My shirt was covered with Skye's blood. I was ravenously hungry and yet I didn't have an appetite to eat.

Coulson replied, "Because we have Skye with us right now."

* * *

A/N: sorry this one was late! I was at a big anime convention for the weekend! I got to see J. Michael Tatum and Caitlin Glass! Caitlin even answered one of my questions!

Anyway, you don't have to dress as an anime character. I went as Melinda May, because I have the same haircut, Asian features, and to some peeps eyes looked like her. I'll tell you something, it's really awkward when a dude tells you he loves your outfit and they want a hug from you.

So one of the ladies selling stuff at a booth gave me a freebie picture/drawing of the crew in S.H.I.E.L.D.! If you check on Tumbler, you can even see a picture of me and her artwork stuff. Her tumbler account is .com (she wrote it on the back of my poster thing). I kinda wish I had given her my fan fiction link—who knows maybe she's a fan of Bucky. But she probably wouldn't really care for a teenager's fan fic.

At the convention, they had a Marvel photo shoot. I got to meet Fitz, Simmons, Coulson, and Maria (not the actors). I had met Simmons the day before (she was Luna Lovegood at the time) and she told me about the photo shoot. Now that I think about it, I kinda wish I had told Simmons about my fan fiction. I think she would have loved it. Simmons even wanted a selfie with me. Haha—no, I hate selfies. But I took one anyway. One of her friends was this AMAZING Captain America. She looked like she had just gotten out of a battle. She seriously looked kinda grimy and she looked dirty and muddy—it was the best cosplay ever…

While we're at it, I want to tell you about Captain Hysterical, as I call her. (Let's hope that she's not reading this, cuz she will most likely hunt me down and kill me… I'm _not_ kidding…) So basically there's this 16 or so year old girl cosplaying as Captain America. The outfit was a little cheesy, but we give her credit. Anyway her shoes started falling apart and she needed some kind of tape. So at the photo shoot she was asking strangers and people if they had this kind of tape. Finally when she got to me, I said no, and she went any freaking out like heck because she didn't look right. So she cried, hyperventilated (or seemed like she was), and swore her little badmouth to death. I wanted to tell her she could still be in the photo shoot, but I knew she'd blow up at me. Everyone who watched her felt like me. Wasn't quite sure what to do. What would you do?

We had to go without lunch, there were some freakily weird people, but I felt at home. Really nerdy place to be. And I heard way to much swearing, thank you very much (I know you're probably like "Swearing? Psh!" but you haven't heard it from me, so that's that).

LOVED the convention.

Well thanks for putting up with all that talk! My story is still going. And no, this isn't one of those stories where it goes on forever for the sake of attention. _This story has an end,_ so continue reading it until the journeys end. And do share it to those who you think would love it!

In my next author's note, I'll give you a heads up about the final chapter!

-Tora Rivers of the S.S. Corporation

See you in the next chapter! Thanks for being patient!

PS- Also do tell me what you think of the story so far! Do you like it? Dislike it? Find it too complicated? I'm all ears to know what you thought of the story! All comments will be greatly taken in, even the criticism reviews, because I can learn from them the most. Feel free to ask questions too! I haven't gotten much feedback about this story and I'm eager to know what people think of it!


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